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 44: Fighting Shadows
As the wizard in wolf's clothing vanished from the screen along with Wolfstar, Heero sat back and ran a hand wearily over his face. A glance at the still open window on the screen that held the images of those not sitting in the conference room with him let him know he wasn't the only one who'd been shaken by the latest turn of events. The now seventeen year old pilot had never imagined that his life would turn out quite so complicated when he agreed to pilot the Gundam Wing for Dr. J back when he first met the rather mad scientist shortly after his father died. Two year ago, Heero never would have believed it if anyone told him that he'd find an older little brother that would turn his world upside down and teach him how to laugh again.
"Taliesin's always been such a polite and reserved child… well young adult," Sally slowly stated after several minutes had passed. "And while I knew he was capable of piloting a suit and fighting, I never quite imagined that he…"
"That he was capable of such viciousness?" Wufei finished as he glanced over at the older woman who was their current commanding officer as part of the Universal Police Force.
"I don't think he expected to fight Wolfstar when he came looking for us because if he had, then he never would have allowed any of us to witness it," Trowa pointed out. "That he didn't consider it at all is a measure of exactly how rattled he'd been by Quinze's revelations."
"Taliesin has always been driven by his emotions though he has learned a measure of control over the past two years. However, right now we have more important things that need to be addressed; such as what White Fang hopes to accomplish. We already know that Quinze's goal is to destroy the earth," Heero stated loudly to bring everyone's focus back to the matter at hand instead of dwelling on Taliesin's violent display. "That doesn't really tell us what he wants with Taliesin; aside from the fact that he was looking to equip the Epyon with the same protection that the Star Suits and the Gundams have."
"If he doesn't believe that Taliesin has magic; then what else could he possibly want from him?" Dorothy asked with a puzzled frown as she wrung her hands together without realizing what she was doing. "Based upon everything I have learned since I was brought here, all of his abilities stem from his magic but it sounded as if Quinze doesn't actually believe such a thing exists."
"Personally, I was more than a little creeped out by Quinze's display there at da end," Duo interjected as he shuddered a bit and pulled on his braid. "A giddy old man is not a pretty sight. I especially didn't like da way he kept touchin' Taliesin."
"Did you notice how he constantly referred to Taliesin as a demon?" Quatre noted almost absently as he rubbed at his chest and glanced off to the side of the laptop he was sitting in front of; the empath unfailingly picking up on the rising tension in the room. "The man is completely fixated on that ridiculous title that was given to Taliesin after the Battle for the Moon."
"Epyon!" Heero gasped in sudden understanding as everyone swung to stare at him.
"Treize's suit? What about it?" Zechs asked as he furrowed his brow in confusion.
"Taliesin is one of the most, if not thee most talented pilot there is when it comes to piloting mobile suits, or any aircraft really," Heero explained as he leaned forward. "He can make a suit do things that would destroy the suit or kill the pilot and while part of that has to do with the protective magics he's cast on all of our suits, most of it is him. He'll deny it but we've all seen him pulling off the impossible."
"His reputation as a skilled pilot was well known across all of the Colonies," Relena thoughtfully added. "The Star Pilots were often compared to the Gundam Pilots and I suppose I can understand why now since you were all one in the same. Taliesin's name was often spoken of with hushed reverence by those who agreed with the ideals of the Resistance while it was bandied about with fear and hate by those who sided with OZ. Both sides always agreed that he could do things in a suit that were once thought impossible."
"Don't forget, Taliesin earned the title Demon of the Stars while piloting Wolfstar that first time in part because of the nature of the Wing Zero suit; specifically the Zero Interface System," Wufei stated as he pulled up the information he had on Wing Zero and what was known about the Epyon (which wasn't much) and sent the comparisons to each of the laptops currently linked to the conference. "As you can see, Epyon is rumored to have an interface that was based off of the Zero technology; only it is far more invasive and rumored to have the ability to destroy a pilot's ability to think and reason while under its influence."
"Howard had forwarded me a report from Professor G about the Epyon, shortly after White Fang picked up all five of the Gundam scientists," Duo reminded everyone as he paged through the files Wufei had sent. "That's where most of our information on Treize's Gundam came from and from what Howard told me, Professor G was concerned because of how similar the operating systems of Epyon and Wing Zero were."
Heero nodded and took back control of the conversation as he continued with his explanation, "Under the influence of the Zero Interface reality is replaced with possibility and the system encourages you to seek out your enemies and alters your perception of reality so that you aren't certain whether you can trust what you are seeing; those who tested or piloted the suit prior to Taliesin getting into the pilot's seat know exactly what I'm talking about. In Epyon, there are rumors that the system takes things one step further and actually removes your ability to question reality; forcing you to accept what the system shows you as reality."
"The files that Wolfstar has been feeding us since Taliesin was taken mentioned something about an addition that was added to the Epyon Interface," Patricia interjected hesitantly, the young woman not used to speaking up in front of the others. "In order to get around the issues created by the interface's tendency to take control of the pilot, a fail-safe was built into the program that would allow someone outside of the suit to control the pilot."
"Quinze is going to throw Taliesin in the Epyon and attempt to control him through the interface in order to force him to destroy the Earth," Zechs finished as he immediately saw where Heero had been leading with his explanation.
"That would certainly seem like a logical conclusion based upon what we've learned to date and what we know of White Fang's agenda," Sally admitted as she drummed her fingers on the table.
"The blood wards that Taliesin spoke of earlier… he said there was a chance they could fail," Dorothy slowly stated as she looked between each of the five Gundam pilots. "How would he know? Do they blow up on their own or is there some way to trigger them?"
"The failed wards in the past only became unstable and exploded when exposed to his magic," Trowa answered.
"Does it have to be a large amount of magic or would the tiniest bit set it off?" Dorothy asked as she bit her lip nervously.
"Hard to say, most of his failed wards usually exploded when exposed to a single spell but determining the amount of magic in a single spells is rather hard to do since Taliesin can't always control how much magic he puts into each spell when he casts it."
"And the amount of magic that Taliesin uses unconsciously when he pilots a suit?" Sally asked as she picked up where Dorothy had been heading with her questions.
"In a normal suit I'd say none," Heero answered as he ran a hand through his hair. "In a suit like Epyon? More than enough to trigger a faulty ward. When the Zero Interface attempted to take over his mind he managed to take control of it instead due to something he called Mind Magic; which basically gave him the ability to defend his mind against outside attacks. He said that while he was fighting for control a link was established between him and the suit and during the battle he fought after he took control of the Zero Interface, that link drew on his magic and used it to enhance the suit's performance."
"What are the chances that Quinze will be able to gain control of Taliesin through the Epyon Interface?" Relena inquired after several minutes of silence had passed as they each considered the dire ramifications of a faultily ward being triggered while Taliesin was piloting said suit. "It's obviously been a year since he first encountered the Zero Interface and he's bound to have grown stronger during that time; so how difficult would it be for him to fight the Epyon Interface system the same way he fought Zero? Would the link he continues to share with Zero help or hinder him?"
"We'll have to ask Taliesin when we meet with him in about fourteen hours," Quatre replied. "There is no doubt that Taliesin will fight any attempts to take control of his mind but the problem lies in the fact that Quinze could potentially use drugs to weaken Taliesin, now that the man knows how to bypass Taliesin's ability to filter out the chemicals, and there is no telling how said drugs would affect his control over his mind. Then there is the fact that he just fought off an attempted take over by Zero and while it was clear that he won that battle, it was also quite clear that he was injured in the process. Those injuries could easily affect any future battles he will face since there is no telling how those injuries will affect him."
"But they weren't physical injuries… so they weren't actually real, right? I mean, they'll just disappear after a while, won't they?" Dorothy interjected almost desperately.
"They may not have been physical but they were real enough. Taliesin's mind, magic, and soul are intertwined so tightly that they might as well be one and the same," Trowa countered with a tired sigh. "The point is that there is no separating the three from each other. An example would be his wings; when they first manifested he would not allow anyone to touch his wings because they were made from his magic and directly tied to his soul. At the time, he actually equated the feeling of someone touching his wings to physical intimacy; which in his mind pretty much meant molestation, only of his soul instead of his body. He eventually grew to tolerate them being touched after rediscovering Hogwarts as many of the smaller creatures were fascinated by his wings and tended to cling to them or perch on them but he still avoids letting other people touch them if he can."
Dorothy blushed brightly over that revelation, her mind immediately pulling up the memory of her fingertips running across the unexpectedly warm and soft, leathery scales of Taliesin's wings and his response to those touches. Her reaction of course garnered quite a few raised eyebrows as neither she nor Taliesin had actually told anyone what exactly happened between the two of them at the end of May though they were aware that something did happen. Any embarrassment or half remembered desire fled an instant later though when she abruptly recalled that there was a good possibility that Taliesin would die within the next twenty-four hours.
"Are you alright, Dorothy?" Relena asked in concern as she dropped a hand to the blonde's shoulder.
"I… I'll be fine; I'm just worried is all."
"So… how are we gonna go about gettin' da stubborn brat home?" Duo asked once the moment had passed. "We've got us fourteen hours ta plot and plan and our kid brother is countin' on us ta save his bacon."
"We could just tell him you called him a kid again and he'll probably figure out a way to get home on his own just to hex you for that," Heero quipped with a soft chuckle that helped to relieve the growing tension.
A few grins and laughs were exchanged before the group got down to business and looked at the various options open to them. There were several potential options available; each one carrying a different set of risks. Much depended on Taliesin's physical situation since there wasn't much he could do if he was unconscious though the fact that Wolfstar was currently in space with him helped since the suit could potentially step in to rescue him if needed.
Nearly eleven hours had passed since they'd last seen Taliesin when they were interrupted unexpectedly by an incoming call from Treize Khushrenada who was looking to speak with Quatre (Taliesin had warned them he might call but they'd hadn't thought the man would follow through on Harry's suggestion since the man blamed Harry and Zechs for Une's 'death'). Instead of answering the man's questions, Quatre simply patched him through to Une and let her deal with him.
When the appointed time came for Taliesin to meet with them again, they had high hopes that they'd be able to get him out of there one way or another. Only Taliesin never showed and they couldn't get a response out of Wolfstar.
Harry opened his eyes about twenty minutes before his internal alarm was set to go off and stretched out the kinks in his back and wings before he glanced down at the still sleeping Wolfstar. The injuries Harry had inflicted upon the sentient suit's avatar had partially healed during their not-quite-nap (as had Harry's own injuries) though it would still be some time before they were completely healed and even then it was obvious that some of them would leave scars; such as the one on Wolfstar's face and the notch in the wolf's ear. Harry sighed and wished it hadn't been necessary but at the time he'd been fighting for his life and his mind and he couldn't afford to pull his punches just to protect the suit's consciousness from harm.
He really didn't have time to think about how his relationship with Wolfstar was going to change because of their recent battle; he had to see if Wolfstar's scanners picked up any new information while they'd been trying to rest and get back to his brothers. Things never seem to go as planned for Harry though and before he could even reach for his connection to Wolfstar, he was being slapped awake. Annoyed, Harry bolted awake and found himself face to face with a rather disheveled Treize and he scowled at the older man. Harry opened his mouth to soundly curse the man only for Treize to cover his mouth with his hand.
"Just shut up and listen," Treize hissed vehemently. "I made a mistake. We only have about six hours before Quinze sends for you and by then it will be too late for Earth. I'm going to help you get out of here but you are going to have to trust me. I realize you have no reason to do so but right now it's your only option because if Quinze gets his hands on you there will be no stopping him. Do you think you can do that?"
Harry let his eyes bore into Treize's for a full minute before he slowly nodded. Treize sighed with relief and removed his hand as he pulled Harry up to his feet, ordering him to remain completely silent. Standing at the door, looking exceedingly nervous, was the man that Harry had mentally dubbed Officer Muttonchops. He glanced back at them and flashed Treize what must have been some sort of signal because the next thing Harry knew Treize was lifting Harry up and draping him over his shoulder; sending more than a little pain through the partially healed bullet wounds on his torso.
The flash of pain coupled with long ingrained dislike of being touched and his distrust of the man currently holding him meant that Harry's first instinct was to fight and he tensed as he prepared to do just that only to recall his agreement to trust Treize for the moment and simply held himself still as he waited to see what the man was going to do next. Harry felt more than heard Treize's second sigh and realized that he'd been worried that Harry was going to fight him despite his earlier agreement to trust Treize.
Two minutes later, their small group was ghosting through the maze-like corridors of an unexpectedly large spaceship. Had he not been agonizing over the threat of death hanging over the unborn magical children back on earth and fretting over what Quinze had planned for him, he might have had the presence of mind to have Wolfstar pull the blueprints for White Fang's spaceship from their computers when he was first brought out into space. As it was, Harry's mind had firmly been back on Earth and far too busy panicking when he wasn't beating himself for running headfirst into trouble without proper planning. It was something he was going to have to rectify if he hoped to make it back to Earth in time to prevent the unborn children from dying due to a lack of magic.
Knowing that, Harry shoved his uncertainties and worries to the back of his mind as started plotting on how he could use his current predicament to his advantage. Tilting his head up, Harry glanced back the way they'd come and noted that the corridors were only lit with emergency lights and he wondered if that meant that Treize had attempted to neutralize the security cameras in the area. He then twisted around so he could glance in the direction in which they were moving only for Treize to actually reach up and swat him across the ass which left Harry gaping almost comically; the man had just spanked him!
Indignation had Harry opening his mouth to tell the man off for his audacity only to close it when he realized his squirming must have off balanced the man or made him think Harry was about to cause trouble. Silently huffing, Harry allowed himself to relax just a touch as he focused his thoughts inward with the intention of connecting to Wolfstar so that he could enlist the suit's aide in escaping. He was distracted this time by the sound of an alarm going off which coincided with Treize and Officer Muttonchops cursing up a storm before the two men took off running.
Harry really didn't like being bounced about on Treize's shoulder (for one it only increased the pain of his recent injuries) but he really didn't have much of an option because his feet were still cuffed at the ankles just as his wrists were still cuffed behind his back. Both in strange electronic handcuffs that Harry could have deactivated in short order but doing so would mean they would be that much harder to remove since they needed to be working in order to disengage the locks. He couldn't help but think that Treize should have removed them so that Harry could be of use in their escape but it was possible that the man hadn't been able to get them off, hadn't thought he needed to bother removing them, or he had worried that Harry would attack him the moment he was free.
Unless the man isn't actually trying to help me escape, Harry thought darkly as he caught the sound of booted feet running towards them.
He nearly swore as he slipped sideways off of Treize's shoulder when the man slid to a halt and dove sideways to avoid the wave of gun fire those footsteps heralded. The wall slamming into his left side didn't help as it reopened the two half healed wounds. Treize roughly jerking him back up onto his shoulder didn't help either and Harry did the only thing he could do; he pressed his face against the man's back to muffle the scream of agony that was torn from him.
Thankfully, Treize was far too busy running for his life at the moment to swat Harry a second time (for drawing attention to them, not that they didn't already have that) but he did clamp his arm tighter about the back of Harry's thighs in order to keep him from slipping a second time. Harry just knew that his entire body was going to be bruised black and blue before this was all over.
Four hours later, after being dragged up and down the eight levels of the huge ship and from starboard side to port side at least three times (no easy feat considering the ship was just over two miles wide and nearly a mile tall), their small group of three was cornered by close to fifty soldiers in one of the many corridor junctions. They'd almost reached the hanger where Wolfstar was being stored once but they'd been chased back out of there and Officer Muttonchops had been shot in the leg with a beam gun. It was their injuries and exhaustion that had eventually led to them being caught along with the fact that their pursuers had access to the security cameras (the men that Treize had set to redirecting the cameras having been caught and disposed of by Quinze's men) and could direct those hunting them to their precise location.
Harry had tried repeatedly to wake Wolfstar so the suit could take control of the cameras but their battle for dominance earlier had done more damage than he originally guessed and the sentient suit's consciousness was currently locked in a healing sleep within Harry's mind. Part of the reason for that was because Harry had merged Wolfstar's avatar with Zero's avatar effectively cutting the free-flowing nature of the link the two had shared previously but Harry didn't know that yet.
Any doubt that Harry had been harboring about the man truly attempting to free him was washed away the moment they'd been cornered by Quinze's men. The retaking had been anything but pleasant for all three fugitives but most especially for the two older men. Treize had the crap beat out of him by a group of five rather brutish looking men and Harry had an eerie flashback to the day he destroyed the Lunar Base and he stumbled across Zechs taking a beating. Officer Muttonchops, whose actual name Harry learned was Kratz Shelby, was roughed up a bit as well but no where near as badly as Treize.
That didn't mean Harry was spared from the rough handling but other than adding to his still forming collection of bruises they didn't beat him outright like they did the other two. And the only reason they left him alone for the most part was because Quinze needed him alive and in relative good health for whatever it was the man had planned for him.
That didn't stop Harry from fighting back though and he used his bound feet as best he could to knock the soldiers about and generally just make a nuisance of himself. That only lasted for about a half an hour though, which was how long it took for a rather harried looking nurse to turn up with a huge syringe filled with curare and injected it directly into the back of his neck after getting about ten of the soldiers to hold Harry down. The paralysis set in shortly after that and he was soon hooked up to an IV directly to the neck feeding a constant stream of the paralyzing poison to his body.
And he didn't even have the comfort of passing out so that he could tell his brothers what had happened and why he was late for their meeting because the stupid nurse had also pumped him full of something else that felt like pure caffeine that was keeping him wide awake.
Quinze, when he finally showed up some forty minutes after they'd been subdued, was in a fine temper; his plans had nearly been foiled by the man that was supposed to be on his side after all. Harry wasn't quite certain what possessed him but the moment he saw the look on Quinze's face, he started laughing. Since he was paralyzed again, his laughter came out half slurred (as if he was drunk) and rather disturbing sounding which made the soldiers guarding him shift uneasily as they all immediately thought of Harry's title as Demon of the Stars. It was the unhinged look in Harry's eyes that really scared them though as he truly looked insane as his eyes glowed faintly with magic in his efforts to banish the poison that was half killing him.
"Get him back to his cell," Quinze ordered with another scowl. "Go with them and make certain that he wasn't seriously injured by Khushrenada's fool stunt, Nurse Walker; I need him to be able to function normally or he is worthless to me. And so help me, if you lose him between there and here I will see to it that each one of you is ejected out into space without a spacesuit. I have been waiting for this day for over twenty years and I will not allow anyone to screw this up! Well what are you waiting for!?"
Getting dragged backwards by the neck of your spacesuit across over two miles of twisting and turning corridors while in pain and paralyzed is not a pleasant way to pass an hour. Harry swore that sadistic nurse had purposefully dosed him up in order to keep him conscious just so that she could torture him. He got further proof of her sadistic nature when she had the soldiers stripe him and then began her painful poking and prodding into each and every one of his many bruises and injuries.
And then she'd given him a second dose of the drugs to keep him awake and paralyzed while she stitched up the two gunshot wounds (which actually counted as four injuries since both bullets had gone in one side and out the other) without an anesthetic. Screaming and yelling obscenities through his poison locked jaw only made it worse because she knelt on his wing and ground it soundly against the ground each time he insulted her; intentionally.
When she tried to stitch the three or four gunshot wounds on his right wing the same way after brutally yanking off the tape that bound his wings, Harry went into cardiac arrest due to the combination of pain, drugs, and poison and the sadistic wench nearly soiled herself in fear because if Harry died, then Quinze would have her thrown off the ship. The worst of it was that even though his heart had stopped beating and he couldn't breathe, Harry still couldn't reach his mindscape. He was currently in so much pain that he couldn't even concentrate long enough to reach out to brush Wolfstar's consciousness; who was still sleeping off his wounds in Harry's inner mind.
On the whole it was two hours of sheer agony that Harry really, really could have done without. When he was finally stable and relatively pain free (since oh-god-just-amputate-the-arm-already didn't hurt anywhere near as badly as the oh god why-can't-I-fucking-die-already-it-hurts-so-bad pain he'd been experiencing just a short while earlier) his eyes promised the woman an eternity of pain for what she'd put him through. That would be the last time Harry saw the woman and he greatly suspected the Quinze had carried through with his threat and ejected her from the ship without a suit because the woman had come quite close to killing Harry.
He actually had a hard time believing that he'd actually lived through that nightmare and would later wish that it was possible to Obliviate himself so that he wouldn't have to keep reliving through the ordeal in his nightmares.
By that time, the six hours that Treize had told him he had before Quinze came for him had come and gone and then some. And that meant the twenty-four hour time limit that he'd been given by the sadistic leader of the White Fang had slipped through his fingers and he had absolutely nothing to show for it. Worse yet was that he was steadily running out of time before the loss of his magic on Earth began slowly killing off the various children that were so close to being born (humans, elves, centaurs, and creatures alike).
Harry never liked feeling under pressure and feeling as if he was on the verge of failure and at the same time, it was when he was under pressure and inches from failing that he truly excelled. He was just one of those rare individuals who thrived in adversity even if he hated ever single minute of it; he just couldn't be content if his life wasn't being challenged (though he really did prefer those challenges with less bloodshed and fewer lives at risk).
It was while he was worrying about how little time he actually had left to find a solution to his current predicament that Harry fell asleep, his body exhausted and in pain since he hadn't really slept since he'd turned himself over to White Fang. Spending time in his mindscape didn't really count because neither his body nor his mind truly rested when his consciousness was wide awake. The short almost-nap he had after his battle with Wolfstar had helped heal the injuries his soul had acquired but that had done nothing for his body or his mind. Harry would later curse the fact that his body had limits when he learned that he'd lost what little time he had remaining due to falling asleep.
Harry was jolted awake several hours later by a blindingly sharp pain digging into his left temple that would have had him writhing in agony if not for the fact that he was once more bound to a chair. Letting out a pain filled scream, Harry struggled against his bonds while trying to figure out what had happened to him. His attempts to shift himself were futile though as there was someone standing behind him gripping him firmly by the hair and the rather large busted woman straddling his legs with her meaty fists holding his face didn't help either. Whatever the woman was doing though was making the pain worse and Harry screamed a second time as he felt blood trickling down the side of his face. His earlier brush with death, the dull throb and ache of his abused body, and the lingering poison in his system didn't really help matters.
"The first contact point has been successfully set, Quinze sir," the woman hovering in front of Harry announced as she pressed a piece of surgical tape over Harry's temple and picked up a weird round disk with a small needle about a quarter of an inch long surrounded by a circle of even shorter barbed needles (that reminded Harry of fishing hooks) with a short tangle of wires and tubes attached to it. "Did you wish for me to proceed with the second contact point or did you wish me to step back for a moment to allow the subject to be subdued?"
"Finish setting the contact points; we are already twelve hours behind schedule. As weak as he currently is from that imbecile's incompetence, there's really nothing he can do to stop the process at this point anyway."
"Understood, sir."
Harry only had a few seconds to try and process what the two could possibly be talking about when he felt the same pain once more, this time in his right temple, as the woman settled the disk thing over the side of his head and shoved it into place much as she had the first one. Four more of the disks, which the woman referred to as contact points, were then placed at the base of his skull on either side of his spinal cord and at the back of his jaw behind both ears.
By that time, Harry had tears leaking from his eyes from the pain as once they were in place the damn things burned and ached. The woman then began messing with the various wires and tubes attached to the six points and each tug (no matter how gentle) made Harry whimper and groan as the slightest movement made the needles embedded into his temples, behind his ears, and the back of his neck scrap against sensitive nerve clusters and bone. Immediately after the final contact point was in place, the woman was gone and Harry got his first clear view of his current surroundings.
He sucked in a sharp breath as he immediately realized that he was sitting in what was undoubtedly the pilot's seat of a mobile suit. He found he had trouble breathing as he realized that he was most likely sitting inside of the Epyon and he felt his stomach heave (even if he had nothing in his stomach he could throw up). Harry weakly fought against his bindings but only managed to send pain shooting through his head and neck as his movements shifted the needles. Stilling, Harry panted and closed his eyes as he fought back the utter hopelessness and helplessness he felt and sought his center.
"Don't worry, demon child, it will all be over soon," Quinze soothed as he crouched down beside Harry inside of the cramped cockpit and shifted Harry's bangs out of his face. "Epyon will carry your name on into infamy as you inspire fear even as you bring freedom to space."
"You may have locked me in this damn suit but you still can't force me to do your dirty work for you," Harry rasped weakly as he glared at Quinze with his green eye.
"In any other suit you'd be correct. But Epyon? Epyon is special; you see I designed a program to piggy back on the Epyon's Interface system that will allow me to directly influence the pilot's brain while he is under the influence of the system. While similar in nature to the Zero Interface found in Wing Zero, Epyon far outclasses Zero in every way. Epyon will remove the reality you know and replace it with a new reality that I will dictate to Epyon and there is nothing you can do to fight it because you won't even realize it is happening. With your unequaled skill as a pilot and my word dictating your every action; you and I shall raze the Earth together. And the best part is that you handed us the only suit in existence that could have stopped the Epyon on a silver platter when you brought us Wing Zero."
"I will die before I bow down to your will," Harry hissed as he reached forcefully through the pain and woke Wolfstar with a sharp mental prod. The sentient suit's consciousness (now mostly healed from their battle), responded at once (if a bit sluggishly) and Harry felt a measure of relief course through him as he hadn't been certain the suit's consciousness would respond (since it hadn't stirred during previous attempts to wake him). Needing to give the suit a few minutes to reorient itself, Harry refocused on the here and now as Quinze began speaking once more.
"The moment I turn on Epyon and activate the machine you've been hooked into everything that ever made you who you are will be gone. By the time I release Epyon into space, you will not even remember your own name let alone those you childishly call your family. Today… today you truly become a demon and under my guidance you shall turn Earth into a living hell before I send you and Epyon on a course directly into the sun."
"I will give you one last chance to surrender and release me," Harry countered in an authoritative tone laced with magic as he turned his head just enough so he could look Quinze in the face with both eyes.
"Stupid boy, I have you at my mercy. There is no need for me to surrender to you."
"Fossor teneo haud reus," Harry intoned solemnly.
Quinze just sneered distastefully at Harry, picked up a helmet that was sitting on the console, and connected the various wires dangling from contact points to their corresponding nodes on the helmet. The man then jammed the helmet over Harry's head with little to no concern for Harry; sending excruciating pain through Harry's skull as all six contact points were roughly jostled. It didn't take long for the man to lock the helmet into place and hook it up to a machine positioned just out of Harry's sight behind the pilot's chair.
The moment Quinze flipped on the power switch of the machine, Harry felt a thrum of electricity buzzing about his head but he ignored the strange sensation in favor of giving Wolfstar his orders; the wizard allowing the sentient suit to reclaim a small fraction of his self control so that he could hunt for the handful of prisoners that Harry had ordered him to rescue.
When he reopened his eyes it was to find Quinze powering up Epyon and Harry began mentally preparing himself for the coming battle; instinctively knowing it was going to be far harder for him to beat Epyon into submission than it had been to take and keep control of Zero. He only hoped that his magic would short out the suit (without setting off the faulty, incomplete ward and blowing himself up) before the fight carried on for more than a few minutes because he didn't think he was in any condition to take part in a long, drawn out battle (mentally or physically).
It was at that moment that a wave of what felt like acid poured through the six contact points that had been attached to his skull. A jolt of electricity followed and Harry felt his jaw lock as blackness ate away at his consciousness. The last thing he heard before the world fell away from him was Quinze thanking him for making it possible for him to carry out his revenge. The blackness Harry soon found himself in was all encompassing and unnerving since normally he would have appeared within his mindscape by now. A trickle of unease wormed its way into Harry's thoughts as he suddenly sensed something else in the darkness with him and he knew that Epyon was in there with him and that the Artificial Intelligence that made up the Epyon Interface was hunting him.
Harry did not like being hunted; he was the alpha wolf and he would not be hunted like some frantic rabbit caught outside of the warren by a half starved fox.
He would not stand for it and he gave out a primal howl that spoke of pure rage and felt the blackness around him ripple in response. His wordless cry gained strength as he pulled on his magic and reasserted his will on his mindscape only to find that there was something preventing him from stepping into his inner mind. Understanding flooded Harry as he realized that the feeling of acid eating away at his mind was some kind of drug that was designed to weaken his control over his own mind. He wasn't about to take that lying down though and Harry changed tactics and became a mere shadow within his own mind as he began stalking his prey using his magic to see where his eyes no longer worked.
An hour (or possibly two) later, Harry still hadn't found his prey and he was getting seriously pissed as he was now being shocked at irregular intervals which disrupted his hold on his magic and his ability to think clearly. The thing that frightened him the most was the idea that Epyon had already conquered him and the reason he was trapped here in the endless dark was because Quinze was on the other side of his mind controlling his every move. He couldn't even sense his connection to Wolfstar anymore because of the interference from the drug and the electrical charges that kept throwing him off center (and because the connection they'd once shared had been twisted).
It was when he recognized the icy cold feeling of despair that was slowly creeping up on him (a coldness that reminded Harry of the dementors he'd faced in third year) that he suddenly realized what was happening; Epyon was using his own fears and frustrations against him trying to get him to either give up or turn on himself so it could attack him when he was defenseless. Sitting down, Harry waited for the next wave of electricity to sweep through him.
The moment it jarred his thoughts, Harry reached out to his magic and instead of merely grabbing a thread like he had been doing since he'd first found himself trapped in the dark; he latched onto the overflow that had been gathering since he modified his core and flooded his entire body, mind, and soul with as much magic as he possibly could. His entire world suddenly lit up as the murky drug induced darkness shattered and Harry suddenly found himself standing inside of his House of Mirrors with a sinister form lurking in the shadows of his mind and looming threateningly over him. The new awareness made him realize that if he'd just kept wandering that he'd eventually have led Epyon right to his magical core and therefore right to his soul and the battle would have been over before it even began.
Fury raced through Harry at how easily he'd been deceived within his own mind and he pulled on his magic again (pulling directly from his core this time) and launched himself at his newly revealed foe.
At the same time as Harry was shattering the hold the drugs had on his mind, his body (freed from his restraints the moment he fell unconscious) began arching backwards as a maelstrom of uncontrolled magic exploded outwards. The amount of magic Harry had pulled free from the reserve reservoir was far more substantial than Harry had known when he latched onto the pool of magic and even if he'd been conscious he would have been hard pressed to control that much raw magic. Unconscious, as he was and completely focused on his mental battle, Harry didn't even attempt to reign in the magic he'd unleashed.
The result was a shock wave of magic exploding outwards that should have destroyed anything remotely technological in nature over a hundred mile radius; instead the magic washed up against the extra fine spider webbing of Harry's stolen blood that had been painted over the inside of the cockpit. Everything not painted (such as the machine delivering measured doses of the mind weakening agent and the bursts of electrical disruptions to Harry's brain, the cameras that had been installed in the suit to monitor him, the self destruct device, and a handful of tracking devices) immediately ceased to function. Those systems that had been painted with even a single drop of Harry's blood, on the other hand, were given a measure of protection as Harry's magic recognized the trace amounts of magic in his blood.
The sheer volume of magic pouring out from Harry was far too much to contain within the weak and thinly spread blood though and the magic soon slammed into the very suit. When it reached the outer armor it ran into a second barrier of blood, one that was far stronger (since they'd used more blood outside than they had inside) and Harry's wild magic found itself trapped inside of the suit. With no place to go and more magic still rolling off the furious mage, the magic did the only thing it could do; it began systematically taking over the suit in which it had been trapped while the volume of magic flooding Harry's entire body began physically affecting Harry at the same time.
When Harry's magic had breathed life into Wolfstar, the Wing Zero suit had been protected against the innate nature of Harry's magic to alter matter (or energy) on an atomic level and therefore the magic could not actually reach down inside of the suit to significantly change it on a structural level. The Epyon had no such protection because Harry's blood alone is not enough to establish the rules and guidelines magic needed to order to perform the task that it was given. The only thing Harry's blood did was to contain the magic within the suit as it acted like a barrier due to the way it had been drawn onto the suit; the crisscrossing webs catching and holding the magic like a spider web would catch and hold a fly.
Unlike the fly, Harry's magic didn't fight and struggle to escape once it found itself trapped; instead it began modifying the place in which it found itself trapped; claiming the suit as its own because it recognized pieces of itself in Harry's blood and therefore saw the suit as an extension of itself.
At the same time, the magic pulsing through Harry's body was forcing his body to undergo changes for the third time in his life as his small stature was unable to house that much magic for long before it would begin tearing him apart from the inside out. Magic had no wish to die though, the energy just sentient enough to know it needed to 'fix' Harry in order to allow his body to handle the magic he'd unleashed in his desperation.
The first thing the magic did was clear the drugs and poison from his bloodstream and healed what it could of Harry's wounds (healing magic wasn't instantaneous after all and bruises took longer to heal because a bruise is mostly made up of free flowing blood, ruptured cells, and broken veins and while the actual damage is easy to fix, the blood and tenderness remain until the body breaks it down). The second thing it did was to once again add height to his frame and length to his wings (splitting the seams of the spacesuit he wore in the process). Finally, the magic rushed through his body improving and strengthening his entire body on a cellular level while also proportionally increasing his muscle mass in order to accommodate his knew height (the magic simply speeding up the natural growth of his body).
While the mobile suit and his body were undergoing changes around him, Harry's mind was fighting against Epyon and Quinze (who was trying to exert his will through his non-existent control). Quinze had appeared in Harry's mindscape about ten minutes after he'd shattered the influence of the drugs on his mind. The man had been completely shocked to find himself in Harry's mindscape and to see Harry fighting against the mental avatar of Epyon's operating system. Harry had to hand it to the man, he was a persistent little shit as he refused to give up despite the fact that the older man and the Artificial Intelligence of the interface system of the Epyon were both steadily (if slowly) losing ground.
There was no way in hell that Harry was going to lose inside of his own mind though; no matter how exhausted he felt or how much pain his body and soul were in.
Outside of the suit where the fate of both the organization known as White Fang and the future of the magical world were being decided; complete and utter panic was spreading through the entire ship like wildfire. In the control room, Quinze had fallen unconscious the moment he connected his consciousness to the Epyon's system thinking to control Harry's actions through the system in order to destroy the earth. The old man soon began having seizures each time Harry landed a successful attack on the man's mind which had been drawn into Harry's mindscape by his magic and the program that had been designed to control Epyon's pilot while the nurses and doctors on his staff trying and failing to stop said seizures.
Down in the hanger bay where Epyon was stored, the soldiers that were supposed to be preparing launch the suit out into space were dancing back in a complete panic as wave after wave of unbelievable heat began pouring off the formidable suit; the Gundanium that made up its armor glowing the color of dried blood as the spider webbing of actual blood that had been painted on it pulsed bright red like veins beating in time to a heartbeat.
On the opposite side of the ship, the newly revived Wolfstar was sewing more terror as he ran through the corridors in his wolf form; cutting down any soldier that dared stand in his way as he navigated towards the prison cells in search of the men he'd been tasked with saving. The sentient suit was simultaneously tearing through the mainframe of the White Fang's battleship; downloading a steady stream of data files and video surveillance to the Command Center sitting safely inside of Hogwarts and directly to the suits of the pilots under Harry's command as he'd been instructed to do earlier.
All through the ship chaos reigned supreme; alarms were blaring loudly, soldiers were fighting each other as those loyal to Treize faced off against those loyal to White Fang, and numerous systems began failing across the ship due to stray gun fire, Wolfstar's razor sharp claws, and the searing heat now rolling off Epyon. Those soldiers that were not fighting were fleeing as they grabbed the nearest spacesuit, climbed into the first mobile suit or spacecraft they came across, and fled the faltering battleship in terror. Inside of the prison cells, seven men felt hope; not for themselves but for those on Earth as they fully believed that one remarkable child was once again pulling off the impossible.
Inside Harry's mind, the battle raged on…
Translations: Latin to English
Fossor teneo haud reus – Fools know no bounds (not 100 percent certain this is correct but it is what I was given by the on-line translator)
AN: *Whistles nonchalantly while attempting to appear completely innocent* You know... there's just something about Harry that makes it easy to turn him into 'Fate's Perpetual FallBoy'. JKR established him as a glutton for punishment very early in the series as he constantly allows himself to be thrown into dangerous situations. I might pick on him just a tad bit more than canon though... just a tiny bit though.
Anyway, notes... Kratz Shelby... I know the description I gave for 'Officer Muttonchops' doesn't fit with GW Canon but in my defense, when I was first looking for a canon soldier to use, the wikipedia for GW had the muttonchop soldier's picture on Shelby's page. It has since been corrected but I"m too lazy to change the name and so my Kratz Shelby is the muttonchop wearing soldier.
Harry's latest growth spurt... this will be the last magical growth spurt that Harry will go through and the explanation as to why he's gone through such a change will occur in later chapters. I should also point out that Harry won't suddenly be six foot tall and looking like a bodybuilder now... his magic was just fixing him and making his body stronger so that he would survive his current ordeal.
Last note... Treize; I so wanted to kill him off in this chapter... my muse refused to allow me to do so. I also don't see his change of heart here in this chapter out of character for him given the fact he had a similar change of heart in canon. No, Harry won't suddenly become best buddies with him now just because the man attempted to help him escape. I'm not going to say anything further though because I don't want to give away any plot points.
Anywho... I hope the action in the chapter had you on the edge of your chair. I should have the next chapter out sometime before Friday but I make no promises. The last thing I need to say before I sign off, is to thank everyone who has left a review; I've tried to read them all even if I haven't answered them and they are all appreciated. =) ~ Jenn