A/N – I'm really sorry for not updating sooner. I'm currently working two jobs, writing my original novel and dealing with an illness at the mo so it's been a pretty nasty couple of weeks. I've finally gotten some time off and am going through this story, removing HTML text and clearing up the spelling a grammar a bit.
LIGHTNING ROD
U.S. Naval Security Station
Washington D.C., USA
September 4th
2022 A.D.
Colonel Gates, Military Intelligence, was immediately met by Naval Academy consultant Skip Tyler before he was even able to close the door of his car.
"We'll this can't be good," Gates said, worried by Tyler's urgency to meet him.
"You ain't kidding. I think we might actually have one of those matters of national security that you guys are always worried about!" Tyler said quickly as they walked towards the main building.
"Alright, don't say anything until were inside,"
The two men walked quickly through the main entrance of the Naval Station and straight through the security points. Skip was very well known around that building and the Colonel's uniform was more than enough to get him into restricted areas. They got into the elevator and traveled down to Sub Level 3.
"So what happened?" Gates asked the moment the doors were closed.
"I think the sub was hacked," Tyler said gravely.
"Hacked? Is that even possible?"
"It is now...,"
The elevator doors opened and the two men walked out. After moving down a long corridor, they entered an office on the left. Directly inside was a large window that showed an enormous Naval Workshop behind it. Inside were a few Rescue Mini-Subs that had several Naval personnel working on them. In the center of the workshop was the U.S.S. Kitty Hawks emergency Buoy.
"We pulled every piece of data in that buoy and found this...," Tyler showed the Colonel a printout with lines and lines of computer code on it. Just below the middle of the page, the code went haywire and scrambled then continued on as normal code again. "that's data corruption,"
"Meaning?"
"Well look at the coordinates! Before the corruption she was holding steady at 61 Degrees Lat, 33 Minutes, 22 Degrees Long, 51 minutes...after the corruption, she's 76 miles off course!"
"Your saying she was deliberately sent off course?"
"Yes, which scares the crap out of me because the only way you could hack into Kitty Hawk's nav computer and corrupt data in the buoy is by piggybacking in on the EAM link," Tyler said quickly.
"That's impossible! The EAM link can't be hacked! It's the most secure satellite link in the world! We transmit nuclear strike packages on that for Christ sake!"
"Well I can't see what else it could be! If it was just a nav system malfunction it wouldn't have effected the buoy. But the data corruption at the exact time that she changed course is a little suspect to say the least,"
"Maybe there was a glitch in the EAM Link that caused an overload," Gates offered.
"Or somebody's smart enough to cover their tracks by corrupting the data they changed. Look, the only section missing is the course change and the receiver address, that's why the Kitty Hawk's own computers didn't pick anything up. To them, everything looked normal but the next time she made a course change, the information went to buoy and that shows us that she was over 70 miles off course,"
Gates sighed. "Alright, you got enough information to make a convincing case out of this?"
"Yeah...well, I mean I can't be a 100 percent sure, not without actually examining the sub but...,"
"That's gonna be a little difficult, she's in 2500 feet of water right now," Gates looked at the information again. It was indeed, extremely distressing. The thought that somebody could breach the United States most secure satellite links, the very links that give confirmation and information about nuclear strikes, was defiantly a national security concern.
"Get your self a suit, Skip, we're going to the White House,"
Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Scotland, UK
September 4th
2022 A.D.
Aurora watched the whole D.A. Class finish their 3rd lap of the Black Lake. Most of them were gasping for air and some were even having trouble standing at this point. She was quite surprised at just how out of shape many of them were. None of them had been thrilled to find out that she would be forcing them to exercise regularly as well as shock treatment them when they didn't obey or did a poor job.
As the class ran passed her she pulled out her wand. Several of them were slacking behind the others. She shot out a hex at Hugo's ass as he came past. He yelped and glared at her.
"Your lagging Hugo! Move your ass and I won't have to shoot it!" Aurora yelled.
He shot another dirty look at her before trying to catch up with the others.
Aurora's attention was grabbed by a loud shrieking sound from behind her.
"Buckbeak! Whoa! Calm down!" Hagrid yelled.
The Hippogriff was standing in the middle of Hagrid's pumpkin patch, tugging at the chain around it's neck and flapping it's wings wildly. Every time Hagrid tried to approach it and calm it down, it would thrash around and slash at him with it's talons.
"Wha's the matta' with ya?!" Hagrid bellowed. "Calm down!"
Aurora's wand swiped through the air and suddenly Buckbeak went very still. Hagrid looked at it, completely bemused for a second before rounding on Aurora.
"Wha' ave ya done to him?!" He demanded.
"It's alright, he's in a trance," She said calmly approaching the animal. "what did you do to set him off?"
"I didn' do nothin'! I jus came out ta feed him and he started goin' wild!"
She looked at the chain around his neck. Buckbeak had been tugging at it so hard that it had scratched him quite badly and drawn blood.
"I'll take care o that," Hagrid said quickly.
Aurora turned and looked into the Forbidden Forest. "Hagrid...have any of the other animals been acting up lately?"
Hagrid suddenly looked very sheepish. He rubbed the back of his neck and looked at his own feet. "I didn't wanna say nothin', didn't think the teachers needed anythin' else on their minds...,"
"What's happened?"
Hagrid walked closer to her and lowered his voice. "The Arachnids are acting all strange. Bein' really protective o their lot. And some o the Thestrals hav' gone missin',"
"Missing?"
"Yeah, like they jus' flew away or somethin',"
"Any other becoming violent?" She asked.
"No, they're jus' actin like...like -"
"There's a predator around," Aurora finished for him.
Hagrid nodded gravely. "They're scared,"
Aurora looked over her shoulder to see Amelia walking towards her. Her skin looked so much more pale in the daylight, partially because of the sun blocking charms that she cast on her self but more because she also looked very tired.
"Hagrid, I think we should keep this to our selves," Aurora said soothingly. "like you said, we don't want to worry anyone,"
"Yeah, spos' ya righ'"
"The Trace will wear off in about an hour. Maybe you should take him some where else,"
Hagrid nodded and gently took hold of the chain around the creatures neck. It walked with him in a zombie like state as he led it round the back of his hut. She didn't feel bad about not be completely honest with him. The truth would only scare people and he would eventually figure it out anyway. Animals, especially magical creatures had always been very good at sensing danger and if there was something out there managing to scare the entire Hogwart's menagerie, it meant business.
Aurora looked back at the D.A. Class running around the lake as Amelia walked up to her.
"What was that about?" She asked.
"We need to get them ready as quickly as we can," Aurora nodded at the D.A. "we're running out of time,"
"I'll take over for a minute," Amelia said. "you've got visitors,"
Aurora looked over towards the castle. Walking out onto the grounds were none other than Harry Potter and the Minister for Magic. She sighed and started walking towards them.
They met in the middle, not far from the lake.
"Harry. Minister," Aurora nodded.
"Aurora, hows the D.A. Coming?" Harry asked. He seemed slightly uncomfortable around her.
"It's getting there. What brings you two to Hogwarts?"
"Albus was spotted in Liverpool 2 days ago. He put down a riot then left pretty quickly. Yesterday he turned up in Calgary, Canada. He attacked several C.I.A. Agents and snatched a girl from them. He also killed 4 unidentified men and shot down a helicopter," Hermione explained as Aurora tried to keep the shock off her face. "do you have any idea what he's doing?"
Aurora could only hope that the girl was the one he'd been looking for. If he had found her, then it wouldn't be long before he return to her.
"No...you know I haven't spoken to him in months,"
"It's an awful lot to take on faith alone, Aurora. You said we should trust him but how can we do that when all we see are random acts of destruction?" Hermione grilled.
"Maybe they're not random. Underestimating his intelligence has already gotten you in a lot of trouble. Maybe you shouldn't make that mistake again," Aurora spat coldly causing Hermione face to start going red.
"I am well aware of how smart he is," Hermione said through gritted teeth. "but this would be a lot easier if we knew what he was actually doing!"
"He's doing what he's always done. What's necessary," Aurora shot back. "now if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to my class."
Aurora walked away just as her stomach started to growl. Being hungry all the time was another thing she hated about being pregnant and her heightened emotions where a lot harder to control when people tried to pry into her lover's business.
Harry and Hermione watched her walk away towards the lake.
"I told you," Harry sighed.
"We had to at least ask!" Hermione huffed.
"Maybe she's right. Maybe he knows exactly what he's doing,"
"He does! And that's what scares me! Look around Harry," Hermione said gravely as she nodded towards the D.A. "he's got James helping to teach Defense against the Dark Arts, he's got Aurora teaching the D.A. And he's running all over the world snatching people from the government,"
Harry looked confused and worried by Hermione tone.
"Albus is building an army,"
"Why?" Harry breathed.
"Why do people usually build army's Harry? He's preparing for war,"
Sophia's house
Istanbul, Turkey
September 4th
2022 A.D.
Albus was sitting on the large open terrace of the mansion. He was simply relaxing with a beer and a cigarette and trying to get rid of the throbbing headache that had hit him the moment he had gotten to the Mansion. Oddly enough he had expected his first meeting with Athena to be more memorable. The Car Chase and subsequent gun battle weren't everyday occurrences but he experienced them before. Athena, apart from her unstable abilities was nothing more than a child. There didn't seem to be anything extraordinary about her.
He had no doubts that she would be a very different person after her Metamorphosis but at this moment she seemed to just be an average child or at least an average Anomaly, if there was such a thing.
She had conked out the moment they had arrived at the Mansion. The excitement had taken it's toll on her and she had been asleep for a good few hours now. He had tucked her up in one of the many bedrooms and left to ponder how exactly he was suppose to tell her that she had a predestined purpose and may well decide the out come of a war that hadn't even begun yet.
It was certainly a lot to lay on a child but he refused to make the same mistake that Dumbledore had made with his father. He wasn't going to hide the truth from her.
He finished his beer and looked over to see another sitting on the table a few feet away. He reached his hand out to summon the bottle with a simply gravity shift but something was wrong. The bottle didn't move. He tried again but again it didn't even shudder. His head started to hurt even more.
"What the fuck?" He breathed.
He could feel his ability trying to work but it was as if something was blocking it. He focused and tried harder. Suddenly the bottle shot through the air so fast that he didn't actually have time to stop it. It smashed against the wall behind him. Albus looked dumbfounded.
His confusion was interrupted by a strange moaning noise from inside the house. Athena was crying.
He left the broken bottle and walked inside quickly. As soon as he arrived at the bedroom he knew that she was still asleep. She was moaning something in Polish and trashing with her eyes closed tightly. Whatever it was, it seemed like a pretty horrible nightmare.
"Athena, wake up, your dreaming," Albus shook her gently trying to snap her out of it.
"Mama...," She trashed harder.
"Athena it's me, wake up!"
She screamed at the top of her lungs! Suddenly a massive blast of blue lightning shot out of Athena's body. It sent Albus crashing into the wall behind him and caused half the lights in the house to blow. Every thing electrical shut down including houses across the street and street lamps outside. She had just sent out an Electro-magnetic Pulse.
It had also been enough to finally snap her out of her sleep. She had bolted up right looking scared and confused.
"I'm sorry! Are you alright?!" She rushed over to Al who was barely conscious.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I always electrocute myself for a laugh," He winced as he sat up. "that happen to you a lot?"
Athena looked ashamed. "Sometimes," She mumbled.
"I don't get it. You have way more control over your abilities than most Anomalies at your age but you loose control a lot more easily,"
"I'm sorry! Sometimes it just -"
"It's okay. I used to have the same problem. It only happens when you get angry or scared right?" He asked.
Athena nodded.
"Don't worry. You'll be able to control it a lot better soon," Albus stood up and stretched. Oddly enough, the jolt of electricity seemed to have cured his headache. "I didn't get a chance to fill you in on this kinda thing. There's somethings you need to know. First, let me see if I can get the power back up,"
Athena shyly walked over to the plug socket and pressed her palm to it. The lights that didn't blow flickered then came back to life. Power was restored to the entire building. Albus looked impressed.
"That's handy,"
Athena managed a faint smile. Together they walked down into the kitchen. Albus put the kettle on and grabbed a beer out of the fridge. After making her a cup of tea, he explained to her about the many difference of being an Anomaly. He spared no details even about the mating habits. By the end, Athena was sat wide eyed and gripping her tea mug.
"I'm...I'm just going to get older?" She breathed.
"Yeah. Only about 5 years, then you'll stay that age for quite a while. We age slower then normal people," Albus said simply.
"And my powers will work properly then?"
"Yep. I can't guarantee that you won't have any other little outbursts though. No offense but that seem to be psychological," Albus really didn't have a very good bedside manor. "you said 'mama' in your sleep,"
Athena looked away from him and stared at her tea.
"Did something happen to her?" He asked.
"I don't want to talk about my mother," She mumbled.
"Well, if that's what's causing your electro-magnetic nightmares, then maybe you should talk about -"
Athena slammed her fists down on the table. "I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT HER!" She was breathing heavily and had sparks of electricity jumping all over her body. She even had lightning flickering inside her eyes. Anyone else would have been terrified at the sight of her.
"Alright...it's okay, calm down,"
Athena looked away from him again, half sad, half angry.
"I used to have nightmares," Albus said honestly. "a friend of mine was...murdered. And I saw it in my dreams again and again. I blamed myself for not being able to save him," Athena slowly looked up at him. "those dreams almost killed me,"
"What did you do?" She asked.
"I...realized that there was nothing that I could have done to save him. I stopped blaming myself and then they stopped," He lied.
"Then mine will never stop," Tears started to fall from her eyes.
"What happened?" He tried again.
She cried. "Men came...they hurt her...and they hurt me...," He could see that she was reliving it in her own mind. "I got scared...and angry...I killed them...I killed my mother...," She buried her face in her hands and sobbed harder.
Albus's eyes narrowed as he suddenly remembered. "Did this happen in the Ukraine?"
She nodded her head slightly. He walked over to her and gentle moved her arms away from her face. "Athena...you didn't kill your mother," Her wet face turned to confusion. "I saw the autopsy report. Your mother died, from blood force trauma...they hit her in the head, didn't they?"
Athena nodded again. Her face was begging him for some kind of mercy.
"You didn't kill your mother Athena...they did. She was dead before you...you didn't kill her," He said softly.
A new wave of tears washed down her face as she absorbed the truth. She wrapped her arms around Albus's neck and cried into his chest. He seemed a little taken back. He very carefully hugged her back. He didn't want to risk hurting her. She was so small and fragile and he was used to dealing with strong adult people. He realized in that moment that he had no real idea of how to relate to a child but worse than that was that he couldn't actually remember what it was like to be one.
Since his metamorphosis, he had lived and experienced more than most elderly people had but in the process, he had forgotten what it was like not to be the Colossus.
"Thank you," She whispered into his ear before kissing him gently on the cheek.
Albus was stunned.
She let go of him and walked over to one of the counters to grab some kitchen roll. She whipped the water away from her eyes and took a deep breath.
"You've killed people?" She asked quietly.
"Yes,"
"Do you ever worry that you are going to go to hell for it?"
"Yes," He said honestly. "but...sometimes...some people have to do bad things...to stop worse things from happening,"
"The greater good...," She whispered absently. Albus couldn't believe it.
In the space of a few minutes, his idea that she wasn't at all extraordinary had been completely flipped on it's head. It was so blatantly obvious, he couldn't believe that it had escaped his notice. There was something very special about her.
"Do you ever feel alone?" She asked.
"I used to...but not anymore," He smiled.
"I do,"
"That won't last. Soon, you'll see that your never alone,"
"When I meet the others?"
"No not the others. Something much more than that,"
"More?"
"You'll understand when you see it,"
"See what?"
"Eternity," He smiled again.
She looked confused but seemed to understand that there was no real easy explanation. "Eternity? You mean...forever? How can you see forever?"
"Your just going to have to trust me on this,"
"You need to start making sense first!" She huffed. The little girl that swears a lot was starting to reappear. "tell me what this thing is!"
"You always ask this many questions?" Albus sighed.
"Do you always dodge this many?" She shot back.
"Look, it's very hard to explain!" Albus was getting annoyed.
"Find a way! You can't expect me to be okay with these vague answers! You made it sound like I've got some kind of destiny!"
"You do," Albus took a deep breath. "but it might not be what you were expecting,"
She looked a little skeptical about this. Unfortunately she didn't have living proof that prophecy's are real and actually do come true. Either way, it was time to tell her.
"Do you know what a Prophecy is?"
Ministry of Magic
London, England
September 4th
2022 A.D.
The Cajan was sat against the wall of his cell looking up at the ceiling while whistling a tune. These cages were usually only used to hold prisoner while they were interrogated or waiting to to be taken to Azkaban. They looked just like a standard muggle prison cell. Heavy iron bars made up one side and the door, the only difference was that it was locked using magic instead of a key.
The Cajan checked his watch then went back to whistling. A few seconds later an Auror walked past the cell.
"Excuse me," He said quickly, stopping the Auror. "may I have a glass of water?"
Auror stared at the Cajan for a few seconds then pulled out his wand. He summoned an empty glass and filled it using the Aguamenti Charm. He levitated the glass over to the Cajan then pocketed his wand.
"Thank you," The Cajan grinned.
The Auror looked at him with mild disgust before walking away.
The Cajan waited a few seconds then put the glass on the floor. He started rubbing his throat and burping loudly like he was trying to make himself sick. He started coughing as something slowly moved up his throat. After a few seconds of almost choking, he finally spat out a small plastic bag with a string tied around it. The other end was tied to one of his rotten back teeth.
He opened up the bag. Inside was a very small vial filled with a glowing blue liquid and a small red gem stone. He checked the gem stone to make sure that it hadn't been damaged at all. Once he was happy with the way it looked, he pocketed it a picked up the vial.
He grabbed the glass of water and moved over to the bars. Very quickly, he emptied the vial into the glass of water which instantly began to troth and bubble. He threw the mixture over the bars and they started to sizzle and degrade.
The mixture was working as a kind of corrosive acid, eating away the metal bars in seconds.
The Cajan kicked the melted bars away and stepped out of the cell. He checked his watch again then moved off down the corridor.
Just before reaching the entrance to the Auror office, he stopped and counted to 7. A pair of Auror's walked by without noticing him. As soon as they were gone he made his way out of the office and towards the lifts. He repeated this several times, avoiding detection simply be standing in the right place at the right time. Of course, it wasn't difficult for him to hide when he knew exactly where and when people would be.
The Cajan eventually reach the one place that he couldn't avoid being seen not matter where he stood. At the very end of the Department of Magical Transportation was the room that housed the Floo Network Hub and the unfortunate wizard that was about to be knocked out by an Alcoholic, chain smoking Precog!
The inside looked like a massive interlinked series of water pipes only they were transparent as had a strange green mist traveling through them. The pipes lined the entire room and disappeared into very sections of the roof. In front of it was a large control box that had dozens of different levers and dials on it.
Exactly as planned, he walked in, grabbed the coffee pot that he knew was sitting on the side and smashed the stunned wizard around the head with it. He walked over to the control box and pulled the red gem stone out of his pocket.
He strapped it to the back of the box where it couldn't be seen. He then turned and left the room, again simply stopping and waiting in the right places and the right times as not to be spotted.
No one even saw him leave the ministry and they would never be able to capture him again.