AN: Next chapter! This one's dedicated to my American readers, who must've felt put out when I had their government join the Death Eaters.

Harrisburg

The chaos of the riots had begun to die down. The military had finally managed to stop the rioters from crossing into the sheltered islands, and were making vast improvements in dispersing the crowds. It wasn't that they didn't feel pity for them, or couldn't relate, but the word of law was absolute.

The fires had also begun to die out as the firemen made up of both Gifted and Ungifted volunteers began to make headway in extinguishing the Molotov-induced fires. Slowly, every neighbourhood seemed to calm down once more as the military forced down the law, arresting anyone who resisted.

It was in the middle of finishing these arrests, however, that the first wave of attacks came.

The only warning the soldiers had before total chaos erupted again was a few pops, followed by several shouts, causing several of their number to fall over, dead.

The troops quickly rallied, however, and formed a protective line between the attackers and the populace they had just been trying to disperse. One particular officer of the Imperial Army turned to the crowd and urged them to flee towards a safe place, doing a complete 180 on his previous attitude, which had been to order them to disperse or face arrest.

"Men, form line!"

The previously-crowd controlling company of soldiers suddenly moved straight into formation as the order was given. Two lines of shining red uniforms was formed, each man standing completely still, even as spell fire took one or two of their number.

"Front rank, kneel!"

In unison, the front line of redcoats quickly took a knee.

"Line…present!"

The two rows now brought up their rifles, oblivious to the shouting crowd behind them that was trying to flee. They were soldiers. Their target was before them. This was what they were trained to do; what they were born to do.

"Aim!"

Each man now picked his target as the Death Eaters advanced. One or two more redcoats fell as the haphazard fire from the Death Eaters occasionally hit the line. Their screams, however, were drowned in the surrounding chaos and explosions.

For a moment, the line did nothing, its officers also seemingly frozen in the moment. The crowd behind them looked on in horror as the Death Eaters came ever so close, while the redcoats fired nary a gun. What could possibly be preventing them from opening fire? What reason did they possibly have to allow the enemy to advance?

The answer came in an abrupt, deadly, and thunderous roar as the entire line suddenly opened fire at the Death Eaters at barely fifty yards. Immediately, an entire wave of Death Eaters crumpled to the ground amidst the cheers of the crowd. The soldiers, however, did not falter for one moment in their training, and quickly reloaded their rifles, bringing them up to shoulder as they awaited for the next wave to come within the dead zone. The next volley proved just as deadly.

It was at this time that the officer in charge turned once more towards the onlookers. "Didn't I tell you to run?" he demanded. "Quickly now, while we can still hold them!"

While that served to instigate quite a large percentage of the crowd to indeed flee, about thirty men and women stayed behind, offering to help. Looking incredulous as his sergeant took over giving the soldiers orders, the lieutenant was shocked to see that the stragglers were indeed refusing to leave until they had helped.

Thinking quickly, the lieutenant had an idea just as the next wave of Death Eaters began to march forward.

"Get as much boxes, tables, and cars as you can and stack them in a line behind us!" he ordered. "We'll use that to take cover." Then, pointing at a particular woman, he added. "You, head off to military headquarters and tell them we're facing unknown numbers and request reinforcements and ammunition."

Their orders received, the civilians quickly got to work, breaking car windows and raiding nearby houses and pubs for the desired covers. Meanwhile, the brave soldiers who stood between them and the Death Eaters were slowly dwindling down in number as the barricade was being constructed. Of the hundred or so soldiers that had been there initially, about 20 had died, and another 14 were wounded. Soon, however, the barricade was done, and the civilians quickly urged the soldiers to pull back.

Sabre in hand, the Lieutenant quickly rallied what was left of his men. "To the barricade, boys!" he urged on. "Fall back and give 'em hell! Lyles, get the guns!" he added to his sergeant, motioning towards the discarded rifles that were on the ground, courtesy of their dead brethren.

Quickly, the redcoats jumped over the barricade and took cover behind the haphazard arrangement of random objects. Quickly, though, they brought their guns to bear once more, using the barricade only to cover most of their bodies, unless a better angle was needed.

To the civilians, the Lieutenant offered them the rifles. "You've earned it," he told them as they looked surprised by his offer. "You risked your lives and safety to help protect my boys. You deserve the opportunity to fight beside them too, if you so wish."

Unsurprisingly, all but three of the group went to the barricade and joined the redcoats in their defiant stand. The remaining three were left alone to leave, without a harsh word said against them. The soldiers were already grateful enough that they had provided the barricade.

Before them, however, the Death Eaters slowly gained ground. Despite the barricade providing them a somewhat safer ground to fire from, and their own steady, disciplined fire, the Death Eater incursion seemed to never end, and their ammunition was running low.

Even worse, more of the redcoats had gotten injured, leaving the group down to about 50 soldiers and civilians. Sergeant Lyles, for his part, had been killed by shrapnel to the face when a Death Eater hit the car frame he was hiding behind with a Reducto. That left only the lieutenant as officer in charge. The corporals and the other sergeant had all been killed in the initial action.

Cursing under his breath as he looked around his cover to see the enemy's progress, the lieutenant seemed certain that there was no way to hold the position. Still, he couldn't leave, either. Further down the road was the intersection that led to the island bridges that connected the island to the rest of the archipelago. Pistol in hand, the lieutenant quickly abandoned his cover and fired a couple of shots at the advancing Death Eaters, killing one and wounding another in the leg. Quickly getting back behind his cover, the lieutenant felt immensely pleased with himself at the achievement.

Still, as he counted his remaining bullets, he realized that he had enough only for about a few more volleys, but no more.

"Craig! How's your ammunition coming?" he shouted down the line.

"Almost done, sir! We need ammunition soon, or else we'll be overrun!" answered private Craig. "Jenkins and Johnson also are having ammunition issues!" he added.

The lieutenant nodded, and cursed his luck. His men had not loaded up to fend off an incursion! They had been deployed for crowd control, not last-stand defence! Still, there was only one option left.

"Craig!" he shouted again.

"Yes, sir?" came the equally shouted reply over the gunfire and explosions.

"Fix bayonets!"

Silence came over the soldiers as they realized that they were at the end of their rope. To be in their position and fix bayonets meant that the ammunition was quickly running dry and no relief seemed imminent. That only left one option: defend each square inch of the road in melee combat.

Taking out his now-sheathed sabre, the lieutenant nodded to his men as he sat leaning against the box he was hiding behind. "Not one step back," he told them sternly. "We gave up Britain without a fight. Never again."

Nodding in agreement, the soldiers started to repeat those last two words to themselves, almost chant-like, while the civilians, using the opportunity to fire a few more shots to slow down the Death Eaters, were quickly running out of bullets.

Eventually, the expected call came. "I'm out!" cried one of the women as she crouched next to the lieutenant.

"Me too!" added one of the men further down the line.

The lieutenant closed his eyes then. Raising the back of the blade of his sabre against his nose, he muttered a quick prayer, begged for forgiveness for his sins, and then suddenly shot up to his feet, momentarily stunning the Death Eaters into a halt.

"I am William Black!" declared the lieutenant courageously. "And as long as a breath lies within me, you will not set one more foot forward! Sons of Britain, CHARGE!"

His defiant roar quickly summoned any fleeting courage in his men, and the remaining soldiers quickly came to their feet and jumped the barricade once more, this time towards the enemy. The civilians, overawed at the redcoats' courage, gave each other a look and, nodding at each other in agreement, quickly followed suit, inspired by the men's reckless bravery and staunch defiance of death.

The British impromptu charge seemed to take the Death Eaters completely by surprise, as it took them a full minute to settle their ranks as the 50 remaining defenders charged them with bayonets, rifles, and knifes, where able. Perhaps the reason they were so stunned was because they could not comprehend the British courage that beat within the hearts of each of the defenders, who with shouts of rage and openly defiant glares managed to cut down a large swathe of their number in their initial shock.

Eventually, however, the defenders began to feel the pressure of the apparently insurmountable odds being borne against them. After losing about five more of their number, the defenders were quickly surrounded by the Death Eaters, who seemed intent in first finishing off the men and women who had retarded their plans for so long.

Standing back to back in a loose circle, William Black's defenders took advantage of the fact that the Death Eaters seemed more intent in mocking them first for their courage to take a breather. In the middle of the loose circle was Black himself, who had been injured by a stray cutting spell. His leg was bleeding moderately, and his uniform was ripped up quite dramatically as well.

"Mister Black," whispered one of the women, somewhat shakily. "I…think this is the end of the line, sir."

Black wheezed as he laughed at the woman's observation. "Lass…call me William. All of you, call me William. Brothers and Sisters in Arms don't have formalities between them." Black grimaced suddenly as pain shot up his leg from his wound.

The woman in particular quickly knelt to his side, leaving another of the group to plug the hole she'd made in the protective human cordon. Smiling at the lieutenant as she tried to help bandage the wound more firmly, she softly replied to the lieutenant, a gentle hand on the young man's cheek.

"Then call me Amy, William," she told him.

Smiling through a grimace of pain, William chuckled at Amy's request. "Of course…Amy…"

The Death Eaters seemed to find some sort of insult in the camaraderie, however, and promptly began closing in the circle around the defenders. Drawing the cordon ever tighter, the remainder of Black's defenders readied themselves for the last moment of their lives. For most of them, this had not been the way they thought they would go. But for others, like Black, it was perfect.

If his sacrifice were at all remembered, it would go down in history as one of Britain's finest last stands.

Awaiting with closed eyes, his face looking up to the heavens, seemingly at peace with himself, Black awaited his death.

And so, was surprised when an explosion tore through the Death Eaters instead.

Walking through the smoke that billowed upwards from the blast radius, which had essentially cut a path back to the barricade, a figure approached the group with an easy, confident stride. None of the defenders could make out the person walking towards them, yet. Instead, they kept their protective circle tight, and Amy hugged Black protectively as she looked at the silhouette making its way towards them.

It was at that moment that an odd sound caught Black's attention.

Jingling.

The same noise that keys made when rattled together.

No…

Black's eyes widened as he recognized what the sound was. He'd heard it before. On a program shown on television back when he lived in Britain.

It had been an American show. A cowboy show.

The figure now stepped out of the smoke, revealing a blonde-haired, muscular man with a confident smile, and a Lancer's lance in hand.

"Howdy."

Spurs.

For a fleeting second, Black imagined that the man wearing cowboy boots and spurs would die at the hands of his enemies, but a stance-like crouch, and a blur later, he was instead in the midst of the Death Eaters and was quickly dispatching one after another. Like water, the man flowed here and there with little hindrance, each time taking out one or two, or even three Death Eaters with his lance.

And though his blonde hair hid his eyes from Black, the man's ferocious grin was enough to tell the battle-hardened lieutenant that the man was thoroughly enjoying himself. The man's lance was thoroughly soaked with blood as well, further enhancing its already vicious and jagged appearance.

Just as the Death Eaters regrouped and seemingly began to swarm the man again, however, more spurs caught Black's attention, causing him to look in the same direction as the first man had come. Out of the dust and smoke walked out several more lance-wielding men, each of them wearing a Continental Army blue coat. All of them were looking quite determined, and Black felt his heart skip a beat as they moved unanimously forward, laces at the ready.

"At'em, boys!" someone cried out, and the effect was instantaneous.

Like a striking rattlesnake, the blue-coated men charged forward in a sudden move, launching themselves at the enemy before them with ferocious battlecries. Aimed high, low, or straight forward, the barrage of lances tore into the Death Eater ranks as the blue-coated men's charge hit the Death Eater line. No longer was the blonde man alone. His comrades had arrived.

And then, another noise caught Black's attention. Rifle shots.

Looking up towards the buildings flanking the street, he could visibly ascertain that there were several more blue-coated men kneeling on the roof tops, aiming down at the advancing Death Eaters and picking them apart.

Black watched in admiration as the blue-coated warriors ripped apart the Death Eater ranks as only British soldiers had been able to thus far. At the head of the charge was the blonde man he had seen initially, his distinctively ornate lance glinting in the sunlight, despite the enormous coating of blood the blade had on it.

A lance thrust here, a shot there, and the Death Eaters were soon in a full route.

It was nothing short of miraculous to William Black. Moments ago, he had resigned himself to his death. Now, there was hope. He could go to a hospital, recover, and then plunge head first into the conflict once more.

He watched as the blonde leader of the blue coats walked up to him after the Death Eaters had been routed, and knew he was staring quite indiscriminately. Still, this did not seem to faze the man, whose blue eyes shined through now with vigour and the satisfaction only a predator could feel. Giving Black a sloppy salute, the man grinned before introducing himself.

"Colonel Nathaniel Pike. Third Texan Dismounted Lancer Volunteers, of the American Resistance. Pleased to meet'cha."

Aboard the HMIS Invincible…

Amidst the total chaos created by the devastating volleys from the four Invincible-class airships and their fighter complements, the Iron Duke's confident smile suddenly turned a bit more fierce, to the confusion of the crew, while his own staff seemed completely at ease with the change in attitude.

"Excellent," he spoke softly. "The twentieth and twenty-first steps are complete."

"Orders, sir?" asked McNamara, completely unfazed by the change in behaviour in his commanding officer.

Harry's smile was predatory now. "Initiate steps twenty-two and twenty-three…now."

"Initiating steps twenty-two and twenty-three; aye, aye, sir."