Chapter 4 First Strike
General Koch was still nervous about sending his men into this situation, but even he followed orders. "Ok men, this is your target. Gellert Grindelwald, immensely powerful wizard, magic theory prodigy, orchestrator of World War II, and longtime prisoner of Nurmendard. Last night there were large magical discharges detected at Nurmendard, since then we have had no contact with anyone on the inside. We believe that all the guards are dead and that Grindelwald has free range inside the fortress. He has had ample time to set up traps for you. You are to get inside and terminate Grindelwald. Assume that Grindelwald is just as powerful as he ever was; don't take chances, finish it as soon as possible. You have 30 minutes to prepare. Dismissed."
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At Nurmendard General Koch had set up a perimeter to contain the situation. The standing orders were nothing in, nothing out. When the infiltration team arrived the area was well fortified. It was now 4:48 AM.
'Very good response time considering the incident happened five hours ago.' Koch thought to himself
As Koch walked over to his men he heard one of the men grumbling "How do we know Grindelwald is even here? I mean he would have been long gone if he had escaped."
Koch knew the man did not expect an answer but he answered him anyway. "Because he is waiting for you in the courtyard"
That got the soldiers attention. The man grabbed his binoculars and looked through the open gate of the outer wall to the courtyard, sure enough Grindelwald was sitting in a meditative stance, waiting. "No fuc- way!" He exclaimed as he pasted the binoculars the other to see.
They were all nervous now. It was the predator that waited for the prey. And right now Grindelwald clearly saw them as prey.
"Ok men it is now 5:00 AM. Good luck, move out." Koch ordered
The team moved through the ward perimeter, through the outer wall gate and into the courtyard between the outer and inner wall. Grindelwald was on the far end of the courtyard with his back to the inner wall's gate. The inner gate was down effectively blocking Grindelwald's only means of escape as the soldiers surrounded him.
Once the soldiers were in position they opened fire; or, at least they tried to. It didn't take long for them to find out that their magic was not working.
Grindelwald stood; looking at the faces of his would be executers and smiled. The outer wall's gate closed with a thud trapping the team inside.
Outside Koch could hear the screams of pain of his team as the soldiers he sent in were smashed, sliced, and ripped apart by invisible forces. He didn't have any time to help them as his own position, and the entire containment perimeter came under fire by spells and small arms fire. Koch had no choice except to retreat. But even that option was taken from him as he felt the anti-apparation and anti-portkey wards move to encompass the perimeter. If any of them were to survive they would have to fight for it.
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Ernst Eichmann was on the phone with his colleague Minister from England trying to reassure him that the situation was under control. He had just gotten off the phone with the French minister. Neither of them were supposed to even know about Grindelwald yet. Damn spies! "Again Cornelius, the situation is under control. Besides, I do believe you have your own problem?"
"Voldemort is under-" Fudge tried to respond
"Voldemort?!" Eichmann Scoffed "I was talking about Dumbledore."
"How do you know about Dumbledore?" Fudge asked
"The same way you know about Grindelwald." Eichmann sniped back
The sound of commotion coming near to his office got Eichmann's attention. A moment later he could hear the muffled voice of his secretary. "You can't go in, the Minister is in a very important phone call."
The door opened, reveling General Koch and two other soldiers. All three were bloodied, one not with his own blood, Koch had a small gash in his right shoulder. "Something has come up Minister, goodbye."
"Is it about Grindelwald? Wait! I have a right to kn-" 'Click' Eichmann hung up on the English Minister
"Minister, Grindelwald is still alive." Koch said gravely "And worse, the SS is still very strong and willing to server their masters Fourth Reich. Only twelve of us escaped."
The Minister was shocked. It was almost impossible to believe that Grindelwald was still so powerful. "Only twelve?" He said softly. The strike team had thirty of the best in it and the outside perimeter was fifty strong.
"We are now at war Minister. I will join the preparations once I tend to the wounds of my men and myself." With that Koch left with the other two survivors to leave the Minister to prepare for war.
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Voldemort had reached a dead-end in his search for the Elder Wand. Or more like a live-end; Grindelwald was still alive and that irritated Voldemort greatly. Voldemort knew that at one point Grindelwald had the wand. But Grindelwald was defeated by Dumbledore so Grindelwald must have lost the wand before the end of the war. Unfortunately, Voldemort could not find even a hint of the Elder Wand after the fall of Grindelwald. And torturing the location of it out of Grindelwald, though appealing, would be problematic; Voldemort's prey could fight back.
But the Elder Wand was no longer an immediate concern. He needed a plan to deal with the new situation. After much thought Voldemort decided to have a sit back and watch approach with it came to Grindelwald. The most pressing issue would be to gain control of the wards that protected Briton. To do that Voldemort had to take the Ministry Building. During his last reign of Terror that would have been almost impossible; but now, thanks to Lucius Malfoy, an incompliant Minister and a severely weakened Auror Force. The greatest obstacle would be the elite fighting force of the unspeakables, of which there are very few. Voldemort had to succeed or else there would be nothing to stop Grindelwald from taking over the wards.
Soon he would conquer Briton but first he had to expand his force. Squips made excellent werewolves. Greyback would love a trip to mainland Europe to expand his clan.
Voldemort also needed a new main wand, damn Grindelwald!
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The Great Hall of Nurmendard was filled, not one seat was empty. And still most of the witches and wizards were standing. For the first time in decades Grindelwald's Dark Army gathered to hear the words of their Lord speak. Less than a fifth of the people gathered were from the original Dark Army. Though there were some new recruits, most were the children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren of the elderly. With bated breath they waited for Grindelwald to appear.
"Tonight we proudly stand united once more! Our banner will fly high as the world trembles. Our enemies have learned nothing and grow weak while we have remained strong. We may have lost decades but our resolve has not wavered. Tonight the world begins its journey to unification. Tonight begins the Fourth Reich!" The cheers in the great hall of echoed in the halls of the fortress as they celebrated the return of their leader.
After the speech Grindelwald and his inner circle, or what was left of it, filled into the war room to discuss the future strategy of the Fourth Reich. Once fourteen strong Grindelwald's inner circle had been devastated, most had died fighting till the very end. Grindelwald looked at the four people in the room, only two of them were from his old reign Franz Goebbels and Fredrick Goering. Though old, and no longer in fighting shape, their experience, advice, and political power would be valuable. Standing next to them was a young wizard, Hermann Heydrich, the grandson of Lord Heydrich, who was also an inner circle member before his death. The last member was a person dressed in a black robe; their face was concealed by a hood.
"I believe all of you are familiar with each other except for Shadow. Grindelwald said referring to the person in the black robe and hood. "So allow me to introduce my eyes and ears in Briton. Though he does not work alone, Shadow coordinates our efforts there. Now on to other matters…"