Disclaimer: Usually I write out a very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so this time as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am not making any money off of this story or any of the other stories I have written.

AN: This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance.

Chapter 43: A Battle for Dominance

"I protected what information I could but it was impossible to fight the damn drug completely," Harry reported as he sat looking over his shoulder with his back to the window that led to the monitor where Heero and Wufei watched him with concern; dejection and shame radiating from his wolfish body. "I… they were targeting the Sanc Kingdom so I couldn't just not answer; I tried. Might be best to evacuate at least the capital city and send Princess Relena into hiding until this is over… You can bring her to Hogwarts; it would be the safest place for her. You don't even have to worry about having her sign the usual contract for now."

"Stop beating yourself up about it; there was no way you could have known that they would figure out a way to counteract your ability to filter poisons and chemical based drugs out of your system," Wufei ordered gently as he frowned down at the short list of drug names and symptoms Harry had given him. "What information was it they seemed to be after?"

Harry hunched his shoulders lower and plastered his ears flat against his skull as he whined piteously for a moment before uttering softly in reply, "They asked me a bunch of questions about myself that I was able to provide some misdirection for but what they really wanted to know was how the defenses for the Star Suits work and they tried to get more information about how I was protected from the Zero interface."

Heero sucked in a sharp breath and Harry dropped down onto his belly and covered his head with his paws, his entire body trembling as he waited for the expected angry accusations he was certain the two teens were going to level at him. When it didn't come, Harry slowly lifted one paw and canted his head around to find Heero holding the bridge of his nose and Wufei gripping Heero's other wrist.

"I'm certain that you didn't give them everything they wanted even if you were forced to give them something, tell us what you were forced to give up and we can go from there," Wufei encouraged while exerting pressure on Heero's arm to keep the other teen silent.

Instead of answering, Harry looked off to one side and a mirror popped into existence beside him and began playing the portion of his memory of the interrogation; his connection to Wolfstar allowing him to play the memories like a pensive while he was inside of Wolfstar's consciousness. His insulting dig about Treize lacking a brain made both Wufei and Heero snort before they blanched at the part where Harry had bit his tongue to avoid answering the question.

They shared a grim look when the Sanc Kingdom was threatened and Heero actually growled when Quinze started ordering the attack to proceed until Treize stepped in. Treize's reasoning for believing in Harry's magic dispelled some of the growing tension but it didn't last long as they reached the part where Treize delved further into the subject of the blood wards (not that Treize knew that).

Heero choked again when Harry told Treize it was his insanity that protected him from the Zero interface and both teens shivered as they too listened to Harry's eerie howl. Heero cursed and swore to dismember Treize slowly and painfully when they reached the part where the older man back handed Harry across the face for insulting Une. When it was over, the mirror vanished back into Harry's mindscape as he lay down and waited for his brothers to say something.

"You know that howl was creepy right?" Heero asked as a shiver ran down his back.

"It was meant to be… I wanted them to know that they'd cornered a wild beast and while they might have had me at their mercy it didn't mean that they'd tamed me. If I had known that pulling on Zero's connection would have sped up the removal of the drugs in my blood I would have opened it up sooner but it wasn't until I wished to establish the dubiousness of my sanity that I thought to tap into our connection."

"You never once mentioned the runes or that the blood had to be painted over the entirety of the suit in order for the protections to work," Wufei pointed out. "That means anything they try is doomed to fail, yes?"

"Theoretically, yes," Harry replied after giving the question a bit of thought. "It also means that if they drop two pints of blood in the cockpit and my magic lights it up it could blow whatever suit they were trying to ward sky high."

"That would be a good thing, right?" Heero asked.

"Depends on who is sitting in the cockpit at the time."

"Is there anything else you found out?"

"No… and I only have about ninety-four hours to figure a way out of this mess. I'm half tempted to swear an oath to never again leave Crystal Valley if I live through this," Harry muttered as he turned to nip at his hindquarters as if looking for a flea.

"Here, here," Heero mock cheered in agreement.

Harry sneezed and snorted at the same time as he looked up from where he'd been nosing through his fur. He then sighed and shook his head as he dropped his eyes to the ground and scraped at the simulated grass of the computer's environment with his paw for a moment.

"Taliesin?"

"I hate second guessing myself, Heero," Harry muttered as he ducked his head lower while tilting it to one side as he looked up and out at the blue eyed teen. "I thought I understood what Obduro meant when he said 'Should the wolf walk willingly into the hunters trap then the stars shall give rise to the guardian's ire and the huntsman and his hounds shall fall beneath the rabbit's shadow.' There was also the reference to Mars burning that alluded to the start of a hundred year war if I tried to fight my way out of this; since Mars is often brighter during times of war and conflict. Something that has held true throughout my lifetime."

"What made you believe that you were the wolf he was referring to?" Wufei inquired.

"My connection to Wolfstar; I still don't understand the reference to the guardian's ire but the huntsman has to be White Fang because they were hunting me."

"Are you certain you didn't mix up the references and that the wolf was actually White Fang because it invokes the image of a wolf or a dog with their teeth barred and that you were the hunter instead?"

"No… because I was not hunting them, they were hunting me and their hounds are most likely their soldiers and their suits. There's also the fact that I willingly walked into their trap; not the other way around. Not certain what the rabbit's shadow is though."

"The moon; the rabbit's shadow refers to an old Japanese folktale about the man in the moon and how he sought to find which of three animals were the kindest. The tale goes on to say that when the rabbit couldn't find any food to offer the old beggar, who was the man in the moon in disguise, he offered up himself but before he could cook himself over the fire the man in the moon saved him and took him to the moon to live with him. So I imagine whoever it is that will fall will fall out in space beneath the shadow of the moon or maybe in the light of the moon."

"That makes sense since they did bring me out to space."

"About the whole taking off at the drop of the hat… why didn't you at least talk to us about what you planned before you left like you did? Why did you seek out the centaur instead of talking to us?" Heero demanded softly as he frowned at Harry.

"I knew that the five of you would council me to fight and avoid giving into their demands," Harry replied as he once again lay down on his belly and propped his chin on his paws as he stared off at something only he could see. "I sought out Obduro because centaurs are seers and prophets in the magical world (though few humans from the wizarding world of my time would have acknowledged them as such) and I've come to respect him and his knowledge over the past ten months after learning something of centaurian history."

"Divination is an obscure form of magic and while there were a good number of frauds out there looking to make a quick buck there are those who have true talent; the centaurs as a race are just one example. I witnessed a witch giving a prophecy once and later took part in the series of events that set it in motion and a year later in the fulfillment of the same prophecy and you've all seen the end results from that prophecy running its course first hand; I'm trying to repair the extensive damage that was done."

Harry sighed as his ears swiveled back and forth as a faint sound reached him. Climbing to his feet he shook himself before he glanced out at his brothers and stated, "I have to go; I've been here too long. Please warn Zechs and Quatre that Treize might contact one of them in regards to Une."

"Taliesin…? Be careful out there, won't you?"

Harry glanced over his shoulder at his brothers before he nodded once and retuned to his mindscape. He was only there for a split second before he was pulled into consciousness by the feel of hands pulling at his bound wings. He opened his eyes to find two strange soldiers, both dressed similarly to the one he'd seen earlier, attempting to dress him in a rather snug fitting spacesuit. His wings were presenting a problem though and one of the two rather young men was getting rather annoyed.

"I say we just cut them off."

"Colonel Khushrenada specifically said that we're not to harm him."

"So? No one would know we cut them off if his back is covered; they'll think he has a way of hiding them like when they first picked him up from the Earth Sphere."

"And how would you explain all of the blood and the severed wings? It's not like we could just tuck them in a corner and pretend they don't exist."

"Well what the hell else are we supposed to do? Colonel Khushrenada specifically told us that we were to get him into a spacesuit and we can't do that unless those abominations are removed!"

"Touch my wings again and I will gut you where you stand with my bare hands," Harry growled menacingly making both soldiers jump in shock as they dropped him as if they'd been burned; neither one of them having been aware that Harry had woken up as they worked. He sneered at them when they pulled their guns from their holsters and they flinched as his eyes flashed red and gold for an instant.

"D…don't m…move!" the one who had wanted to remove his wings ordered as his hands visibly shook.

"Boo!" Harry barked as he stretched his unrestrained hands (the soldiers having removed the cuffs on both his ankles and wrists in order to dress him in the spacesuit) out towards the two men.

Both men (who couldn't have been much older than eighteen, if that) screamed and fired off several wild shots at Harry before they fled the room in fear. Harry ducked down to avoid the majority of the bullets but he wasn't quite quick enough to avoid them all and he hissed in pain as three or four bullets tore through his right wing and two more caught him low on his left side. A brief inspection of the wounds let him know that all of the bullets had thankfully passed cleanly through without hitting bone or anything vital.

A quick glance around the room he was being held in turned up no hiding places that he could exploit (not even a cot) and he huffed again in annoyance because he didn't want to reveal either his wand or his trunks to whoever was watching the security cameras. After a moment's contemplation, Harry asked Wolfstar to override the cameras in the room for a short while as he used his wand to clean and bandage the two wounds on his side before cleaning out the ones on his wing while wishing he could bandage those ones as well. The low powered numbing spells he cast on the wounds a moment later helped cut the lingering ache and allowed him to think of his next step.

He checked in with Wolfstar and made certain the cameras were still under the suit's control before he ducked into his supply trunk for a couple of much needed healing potions. He then turned to his next pressing need; protecting his wings. He was about to start removing the tape in order to relieve the pain of having them bound only for an urgent message from Wolfstar still his hands; soldiers were coming for him. Cursing their timing, Harry stripped the rest of the way out of the space suit the two soldiers from earlier had been trying to stuff him into and nearly tossed it aside only to hesitate when he realized that if he wore his own clothes they'd only strip them from him again.

To avoid that he could use the spacesuit they'd so kindly provided him but he'd have to work fast in order to get it done because Wolfstar wouldn't be able to keep the soldiers out of his room for long. Knowing he didn't have much time, Harry used the blood from his gunshot wounds to ward the suit against his magic as he trotted up the stairs leading back to his prison cell. Once he was out of his trunk, he quickly repaired the bullet holes before he applied the spells to create the wing pocket in the back of the suit; both the blood ward and the spells flowing from his hand and wand naturally after having used them on a near constant basis for the past year and a half.

He barely finished the last spell when Wolfstar warned him that the people heading in his direction were nearly to his door and Harry scrambled to return his necklace of trunks to his neck and tuck away his wand as Wolfstar released the cameras. Less than half a minute later, the door to his cell opened and ten soldiers poured into the room. The cocking of several pistols and rifles had Harry lifting his hands into the air, the spacesuit now dangling from his left hand, in a show of surrender.

Hovering just outside of the cell door, Harry could see the pale faces of the two teens he'd scared and he couldn't quite suppress the smirk that flashed across his face as he had them to thank for giving him the time and the means to protect his wings. Though they were also responsible for his latest wounds and Harry hated being shot more than anything else but at least they'd been using bullets and not beam technology.

"Our orders are to make certain you live long enough to be of use in Quinze's plan but that won't stop us from pumping you full of lead if you make one wrong move," one older soldier with a mutton chop beard growled as he stepped cautiously forward.

"The two imbecilic insects standing just outside the door already added a little iron to my diet; in case the blood streaking my body and dripping on the floor wasn't telling. I'd much rather avoid another serving though. So, as long as you aren't going to threaten to cut my wings off like the cowardly piece of chizpurfle crap behind you; we won't have a problem," Harry replied as he let his eyes lock with the one that had considered mutilating him. "You see I've grown quite partial to my wings and I'm not a big fan of pain or mutilation. So, you stay away from my wings and refrain from causing me any additional permanent bodily harm and I'll be a good little prisoner."

"That so, eh?"

"Scout's honor," Harry promised as he dropped his right hand to cross his heart and he found himself having to hold back his laughter as a confused look passed over the man's face while wondering if Boy Scouts even existed any more in this day and age. Sighing, Harry explained, "I was giving you my word; you know… making a promise?"

"Alright… those two numbskulls were supposed to have dressed you in that suit you're holding; seems you interrupted them," the man stated as he lowered his gun just a touch.

"Like I said earlier; one of them was growing insistent about cutting off my wings because they were in the way. If they'd had any manners and simply asked; I could have dealt with them for them."

"Yeah… well just put the suit on."

Harry shrugged and dropped his hands to comply, swaying slightly due to the minor blood loss and mild pain from his injuries in combination with the effects of the healing potions he'd taken to deal with the bulk of the damage. It still didn't take him long to step back into the suit though and as he pulled it up over his still bound wings without any problems, Harry couldn't help but flick his gaze up to find the two soldiers that been trying to put the suit on him earlier gawking in disbelief over the fact that his wings presented no trouble and seemed to simply fade out of sight.

He smirked at them as he pulled the zipper up into place and sealed the Velcro flap that protected the zipper. Dressed, Harry held his hands out to his side as he glanced at Officer Muttonchops (the name Harry mentally assigned the soldier he'd made the deal with just now) and spun around once. Harry then turned his back to the man, placed his hands behind his back, and glanced over his shoulder.

"I suppose this is where you cuff me once more, no?"

The man dumbly nodded before he signaled to one of the unranked soldiers and the man rushed forward after a moment's hesitation to secure Harry's wrists together. Harry let his shoulders slump once it was done before he spun around on his heel to see what would happen next; hoping and praying they wouldn't be beaning him in the head yet another time. He really needed time to figure out his next move and while he could still think while in his mindscape he couldn't do anything while trapped in his mind and all of his plans and plots required action.

"I'd like to trust you, kid, I really would," Officer Muttonchops declared sadly as he met Harry's gaze. "I have orders I'm obligated to follow though."

Harry knew what was coming even before it happened as the man signaled to yet another soldier. He should have known his promise would mean nothing to anyone though the man had at least been honest with him and hadn't forced him to tolerate the soldiers dressing him. He was going to have to talk to Trowa about the possibilities of permanent brain damage from all of the blows he'd been taking to the back of the head though. He kicked at a stone beneath his feet in his mindscape as he wondered just what it was they planned to do with him and why they'd taken Wolfstar if they weren't actually even trying to pilot him or break him apart in an effort to uncover any secrets Harry hadn't revealed (which were numerous).

With nothing to do and not wanting to risk his soul being permanently separated from his body due to spending too much time outside of it, Harry headed for the only tree in his mindscape; a rather large and dead willow tree that stood some distance away from the house of mirrors that held Harry's memories and core. The tree was meant to represent his old life; a way for him to acknowledge and accept that he was no longer the boy he had been when he'd first shown up in the future four years earlier. He also knew that who he was before was still a small part of who he was now, so he felt it appropriate to create the tree as a memorial of sorts.

It was also designed to throw off any one who attacked his mind as it seemed so much a part of the mist covered desolate landscape that one would immediately expect it to house Harry's memories or maybe represent his magical core. It didn't but misdirection was a large part of a successful mind defense and Harry's was all smoke and mirrors as even the House of Mirrors that housed his memories appeared broken and run down unless you managed to make it passed the nightmares that haunted the outer maze and reached Harry's true self inside.

Climbing up into the branches of the tree, Harry curled up into the fork near the top and stared out over his inner mind, occasionally using his growing control over his mindscape to repair or enhance various portions of his defense as he allowed his thoughts to wander. A brief message from his brothers, routed through his connection to Wolfstar, let him know that the U.P.F (Universal Police Force) had successfully evacuated the Sanc Kingdom thanks to his warning and he relaxed just a touch more. He sensed more than felt Zero curl up near the trunk and reflected for a moment on how the connection to Wolfstar was looking more and more wolf-like and less transformed suit-like as time went by.

He shoved that thought to the back of his mind as he spent a few minutes digging through the information that Wolfstar had been collecting from the White Fang's network but most of it was just an endless jumble of technological jargon that he didn't have enough patience to sort through at the moment. Frustrated, he had Wolfstar shunt everything to the computers in the Command Center trunk (which had been left behind at Hogwarts) so his squad could dig through it for any important information; knowing at least one of them would be working in the Command Center.

Half sighing and half growling in frustration, he stared up at the inky sky of his mindscape and watched the slow endless migration of the stars across the sky. A brief smile curled his lips as he watched the Dog Star for a moment, his thoughts settling on his godfather as he once more wondered if Sirius would be proud of him. Thoughts of Sirius were just morphing into thoughts of his parents when he felt his body tugging on his senses and he turned to wake up and found himself strapped down to a table with his left arm removed from the spacesuit.

Attached to his left arm was what he thought at first was nothing more than a simple IV until he got a closer look and noticed that the tubing was filled with blood and there was a half filled bag of blood attached to the line; they were collecting his blood. Harry blanched as he hadn't expected them to draw his blood and he struggled briefly until Quinze stepped into his line of sight. The contemplative look on the old man's face made a knot of ice form in Harry's stomach as it told him that he really wasn't going to like whatever it was that this man had planned for him.

"I don't know how you managed to get around the truth serum but then I am aware of the flaws inherent in the drug and realize that if you believed enough in your lies the words you spoke while under the influence of the drug would be truths as far as you were concerned. You've cost me far too much ever since you crawled out of the woodwork like the little termite you are two years ago and I'm going to see to it that no one ever sees you as anything but a demon by the time I am finished with you and have you put down like the rabid dog you are."

"Better men than you have tried; you desiccated scrotum from the diseased crotch of a retarded mountain troll."

"I wonder how willing you will be to spout insults after the Sanc Kingdom as been wiped from the face of the earth due to your earlier lies," Quinze spat back.

"Go ahead… as of six hours ago the entire nation has been evacuated and buildings can be rebuilt," Harry replied with a shrug of his shoulders as he dropped his eyes back to the thin line of reddish-purple trailing away from him and he willed the small traces of his magic in his blood to pull away from the needle as he had no wish to power anything for these people.

"Oh I sincerely doubt that; who could have possibly warned them? And even if someone did warn them, who could have possibly passed along such a message to you when you've been unconscious all of this time?"

"Are you certain about that? After all, security cameras are rather easily compromised."

The scowl on Quinze's face let Harry know that the man was already running through a list of people under his command who would have both the knowledge and the access to pull such a deception which in turn told Harry that the man had already stumbled upon some dissension within his ranks. Harry smiled a small, secretive smile as he settled back and closed his eyes; he'd done his duty and pulled an unpleasant prank on an unpleasant man for the moment. Now, if he could just reverse the flow of blood being drawn from his arm and put it back into his body where it belonged, so that they wouldn't have any to use on whatever suit they were planning to attempt to protect.

"We'll see if you are singing the same tune in twenty-four hours," Quinze growled before he turned to the nurse overseeing the bloodletting they were doing. "How much have you collected from him so far?"

"Two and a half pints, sir."

Harry tried not to show his alarm over the amount that they were drawing because he knew he'd told Treize two pints was all that was needed and they'd already gone over that. He must have failed to completely hide his distress though as Quinze patted him gently on the side of the face with mock grandfatherly concern.

"Do not worry, demon; I won't allow them to bleed you dry. I need my little demon alive and strong enough to play his part after all. Two pints of blood isn't anywhere near enough to paint an entire suit in your blood though and I seriously doubt that spilling a paltry amount of blood inside of a suit would protect the outside. I also realize that it would be impractical to paint every inch of a mobile suit no matter how small it is so I am guessing that there is a trick to it. Based upon the designs on the original Star Suits and the schematics of the Epyon I've calculated that at least a gallon would be needed to paint the suit enough to satisfy any barbaric ritualistic conditions needed to make it the protections work; not that I believe for one minute that any amount of blood can make a state of the art machine invincible."

Harry's eyes flashed open in shock and fear over that declaration and his blood ran cold as he struggled against his restraints. He had heard about the Epyon from Trowa and Heero the night that they'd told them about White Fang's demands. There was no way in hell he could allow that abomination to gain even a single iota of magical protection; it would be unstoppable.

"Oh, now this is a beautiful sight," Quinze declared as he smiled appreciatively down at Harry, his hand petting Harry's face with mock tenderness; his touch making Harry sick to his stomach as he violently flinched. "So, even a demon can feel true fear. Vengeance and glory shall be mine; I can already taste my victory. You, my little foul-mouthed demon are going to help me bring in a brand new era where the Colonies will truly shine as they move out from beneath the cruel and restricting shadow of the corrupted Earth. Tragically, you will not survive once you've done your part but don't worry, your name shall live on in infamy as the new boogieman; the Demon of the Stars, the evil that stalks the stars forever hunting down the impure so that he can drag them back to hell with them to burn for all eternity."

This time there was no need for a not-so-gentle tap on the back of the head to send Harry fleeing into his mindscape. Once inside of his mind, Harry dropped to his hands and knees and mentally vomited as the disgust and horror of what Quinze proposed wrapped icy cold hands around his heart. A slightly menacing growl off to one side brought Harry up short as he glanced up to find Zero watching him with hunger and glee and Harry swallowed thickly as he hissed out a command to his mind to cage the link to the sentient suit least it attempt to initiate a power struggle due to his fear and panic. The last thing he needed right now was Wolfstar looking to overthrow his mind. Zero caged, Harry shoved his panic to the back of his mind and dove into his connection with Wolfstar, his paws thundering as he raced down the connection seeking solace and support from the one place he knew he could find it; from his brothers.

"Heero? Trowa? Wufei?" Harry barked out with a near hysteric edge to his voice as he jumped up to paw at the window that was the monitor of the computer he'd been visiting since he'd been taken. "Guys!? Please… are any of you there!? Heero!?"

"Taliesin? Is that you?"

"Dorothy, please; where are my brothers? I need to speak with them now."

"They're not here, they left a couple of hours ago for an urgent meeting that Quatre called," Dorothy explained as she finally moved into Harry's line of sight.

"Merlin's fungi infested…" Harry cursed with a wolfish whine as he glanced behind him down the various tunnels and lines that led to the other laptops that Wolfstar was directly connected to. "I don't have enough fucking time to hunt them down. I need them now."

He dropped down and growled as he swung his head between the various avenues open to him (that only he could see) and let out a snarl of frustration that ended with another whine. He then dropped his nose to the ground and tried to sniff out any clues as to which path would have the greatest chance of getting him where he needed to go.

"Is there anything I can do to help? Like open a line of communication to them so you can conference with them on this laptop instead of trying to hunt them down on another?"

Harry froze and snapped his head back over his shoulder to find Dorothy watching him with earnest concern and he nodded slowly as he turned his body around and walked back up to the screen as she sat down in front of the laptop and began typing away. As several windows popped open, Harry shifted over to one side so he wouldn't be in the way and turned his head to the side so that he could stare at the windows intensely as his entire body thrummed with nervous tension and barely suppressed panic. He'd just caught a flash of what he thought was Quatre's blonde hair when he felt his hackles rise as hot breath washed over his back and a menacing growl shook him to his very core.

Snapping his head up and back, Harry found a highly aggressive Wolfstar (who stood three times larger than him in his current avatar) standing threateningly over him. Rage (more than half of it self directed for allowing the sentient suit to pick up on his panic) filled Harry and he didn't hesitate to attack the larger wolf. What followed was a rather brutal and bloody, if short, fight between the two wolves as Harry fought to maintain leadership and Wolfstar (or rather the remnants of the Zero System) sought to displace him. Harry's only advantage in the fight against the larger, heavier wolf (aside from his ability to think outside of a rigid set programming – such as the programming that made up Wolfstar's consciousness) was his magic and he didn't hesitate to use it to beat Wolfstar into submission.

When the fight was over, Wolfstar (still three times larger than Harry) groveled and abased himself beneath Harry as Harry's wolf form clamped tightly down on Wolfstar's jugular. Harry was growling in fury as he bit slightly deeper, insuring that Wolfstar knew he'd not tolerate another such attempt from the suit when a voice cut through his rage.

"Taliesin, what the hell is going on?"

Dropping his hold on Wolfstar, Harry shrank the wolf with a thought, turning the former intimidating giant into a helpless pup just learning to walk (his latest victory giving him far more control over the suit than he'd had since he'd first given the suit a semblance of life). Wolfstar whined in protest and a furious snarl from Harry shut the puppy up as he slunk just a few feet away and curled up whimpering.

Seeing that the suit would offer no further trouble, Harry dropped down to his belly and licked his shoulder where Wolfstar had sliced his avatar open to the bone before he swung around to face the windows holding far more people than he would have expected. A number of people took a step backwards as Harry's eyes glowed with pure magic, making the green and blue of his mismatched eyes stand out vividly; his connection to Zero completely subdued for the moment.

"White Fang is attempting to ward the Epyon…" Harry rasped; the pain of the phantom wounds inflicted on his soul by Wolfstar during their battle thick in his voice. "He figured out that I lied… both about how much blood is needed and where the blood needs to be placed in order to effectively ward the suit. He still doesn't know about the runes or the spells but… he's… he's got me strapped to a table right now and they're in the process of drawing off at least a gallon of blood from me now. I've pulled as much of my magic from my blood as I can but I wasn't able to stop them from taking my blood and their doing so fulfills the sacrificial requirements of using blood magic (which in this case is forced) so I don't know what complications that will create."

Heero spat out a string of curses while his other four brothers and the Maganacs present all paled. Those who didn't know what Harry was talking about only glanced at the others in confusion though. It was Zechs, who was now standing over Dorothy's shoulder with Relena and Noin at his side who found his voice first, "What exactly are you talking about? What does your blood have to do with any of the protective wards on the suits?"

Harry stopped nursing his wounds for a moment as he glanced around at the various open windows before he sighed and wearily placed his head on the ground beside his paws so he could watch the shivering ball of fur that was the puppyized Wolfstar. After a moment he closed his eyes and began explaining for those who hadn't previously known how Harry and the others protected the suits and other various equipment, "Magic is a very potent form of energy that tends to disrupt all other forms of energy; meaning that magic and technology are incompatible. That's how I disabled the mobile suits, mobile dolls, power grids, and hundreds of other devices. A ward is a protective scheme made up of runes or spells or some combination of the two that protects an object or an area from nature, foreign magic, or people depending on what is used or cast."

Harry paused and growled a warning as he felt a trembling body press up against him and the pitiful whimper Wolfstar let out had Harry relenting after a moment as he picked the wolfling up in his teeth and deposited him between his forelegs where he promptly curled up against Harry's chest. Huffing, Harry nuzzled the wounded pup a moment before he picked up his explanation once more.

"Wards can be used to shield technology from magic but the more complex the technology the more complex the runes have to be in order to account for all of the little systems and stuff going on. Runes aren't flexible enough to do so for any technology more sophisticated than a cell phone or a stereo radio though and spells would fry the systems because the magic would interfere with the circuitry. The only way around those two difficulties is to give the runes a measure of sentience and to do that you add blood; specifically a wizard's blood. Each and every suit I have warded has been carved over with complex runes that were then painted over in blood that I willingly sacrificed to power the magic. On top of those I cast hundreds of spells to weave together the protections that make the Star Suits and others seemingly invincible."

"Blood? You painted over thirty mobile suits with your blood?" Zechs asked in a dangerously soft voice before he suddenly blanched in realization. "Your hand… you said you'd cut it when you were preparing… you literally cut it to draw the blood, didn't you? That was why you looked so sick and pale!"

"Yes," Harry sighed as he nosed Wolfstar a second time. "Three and a half quarts over two days using potions in order to replenish what I took. You have to understand, blood wards require sacrifice in order to work and in each case it was a willing sacrifice I provided. This time it is an unwilling sacrifice and they aren't aware of the runes needed to anchor the wards so I have no idea if it will work or not."

"What usually happens when a ward doesn't work?" Dorothy asked in a small voice.

"It explodes… violently," Heero deadpanned as he locked eyes with the wizard as Harry ran his tongue over the long cut that ran from Wolfstar's nose, over his left eye, and up to his left ear where the sentient suit's avatar was now missing a 'V' shaped notch.

"And the reason for the battle royale we were treated to upon arrival?" Trowa inquired with concern.

"Do you remember the day you first learned Wolfstar gained a form of sentience due to my magic?" Harry asked instead as he glanced at each of his five brothers and Zechs. When all six of them nodded, Harry answered, "Then I'm certain you'll recall what I said when you asked me if there was a chance that the Zero interface could rebel against my control."

"Ya said he considered ya his alpha but that if he sensed any weakness in ya, then he'd attack ya without mercy," Duo replied as his eyes went wide as saucers. "He just tried ta take control didn't he?"

"Yeah… he sensed my panic and challenged me when I fled into my mindscape but I locked him up and came looking for you thinking the matter dealt with. He must have hunted for me through his consciousness and stalked me until he felt me at my weakest and then he attacked. It was a stupid mistake on my part… but guys… what the hell am I supposed to do!? I can't let them ward that unholy abomination!"

Wolfstar whined as he felt Harry's fear spike once more; the wolf now understanding that Harry's panic was not weakness but the fear of something truly terrifying. Harry cradled the pup closer and tended to the many wounds he'd inflicted on the other wolf during their battle in an effort to both center himself and reassure Wolfstar.

"Let them paint it and then blow it sky high," Wufei suggested. "Wolfstar can carry you safely out of there as well as the Gundam scientists if they are willing to follow you a second time."

"There's no guarantee that it will work," Harry whispered tightly. "Nor is there any guarantee that we'd be able to get free of the explosion because guys… blowing up a suit is a bit more dangerous than just blowing up a few phones and radios. And I'm scared; I don't know exactly what Quinze has planned for me. He keeps talking about some part he's going to make me play and it frightens me. He… whatever he's going to do is going to happen in just under twenty-four hours."

Behind Harry, a mirror slipped into view to allow his memory of what just happened to send Harry into a panic to play out for the others as he buried his nose in Wolfstar's belly while the pup clumsily licked his muzzle. Harry's ears pressed back flat against his skull as the memory reached the part where Quinze had been stroking his face and almost cooing to him. He gave a long whine when it was over and shivered all over before he glanced back up to see dozens of concerned eyes watching him. His nose felt hot and he quickly turned to lick at his wounded shoulder in order to hide his emotions until he was no longer in danger of whining pathetically.

"Go get some rest for the moment, Taliesin," Trowa suggested softly. "Give us a chance to discuss the new information you brought us and we'll meet you back here in fifteen hours. Hopefully, you'll have found out more by then and we'll have put together a tentative plan to destroy the suit and bring you home safe."

Harry nodded hesitantly after a minute before climbing weakly to his feet, his body (or rather his soul) aching as his wounds flared painfully as a result of the movement. He sat down a moment and panted even as his body shook from the pain before he lifted his nose to the air and sang out in pain, frustration, and fright; warning the world that evil walked the stars that night. Wolfstar's little pup voice joined his a moment later and Harry's voice changed subtly as his voice grew hard and angry before his song ended on a triumphant note proclaiming his status as an alpha. When it was over, Harry grabbed Wolfstar by the nape of his neck and the two of them disappeared into Harry's mindscape to recover.

Harry and Wolfstar appeared in his mindscape, unknowingly keeping his wolfish avatar for the first time ever inside of his own mind as he appeared with the suit's avatar still cradled in his jaw. A glance at the caged Zero had the not quite mechanical wolf that had represented Harry's connection to the sentient suit vanishing in a swirl of mist that merged with the pup firmly held in his mouth. No longer worried about Wolfstar's alter ego attempting a second coup, Harry headed into his House of Mirrors and made his way to the center pausing only once to study his reflection in one of the many mirrors inside of his mind that housed his memories.

He decided he didn't mind his new avatar, having grown used to the powerful wolf with russet-black fur after the handful of times he'd spent in the form while inside of Wolfstar's consciousness; he did, however, add his wings to the form since they had become a large part of who he was. Once he reached the heart of his inner mind, Harry dropped down onto the soft patch of grass he grew for a bed with a mere thought and curled up around Wolfstar, his right wing blanketing the pup. He took a moment to set his internal clock to remind himself to wake up in time to meet with his brothers as asked before he closed his eyes and let his mind drift in a sort of half sleep that wasn't quite restful.

AN: Yet another busy chapter and yes, I know I'm late putting this up. I didn't even realize that it was the end of the week until my daughter asked me a question about the date. Anyway, there's just one of thing I want to clarify before I head out: Harry is not unleashing the brute force of his magic to fight back and escape at this point because he did promise that he would not fight if they left the earth alone. He also knows that they aren't going to leave the world alone but until they break the rules he set, he will try to keep his efforts as subtle as possible (and threats don't count).

Someone had brought up Harry's magic protecting him on its own (such as against Quirrell or Vernon when they both tried to strangle him) in a review for one of the previous two chapters in response to the soldiers hitting him but I felt it best to point out that Harry's magic doesn't always protect him from being hit (Dudley and his gang used to beat him up when they caught him while playing Harry Hunting, after all, or I doubt they would have kept targeting him). So, no, his magic won't necessarily rush to his rescue just because he's getting hit.

Anyway, I plan to toss up the next chapter before the end of the weekend instead of making you wait a full week since I am late with the one. . ~ Jenn