LES MUSICIENS DU MONDE ARC III 2011 TO 2016

by DanteVirgil09

This is the final arc of this particular saga where it is reaching closer and closer to its climax. When transcending choice for others and making them for some, where every emotion and motive for all characters will have to face and handle to the best of their abilities. Will everyone rise and pave their destinies or fall from grace? But all roads lead to the stars in the end.

2. JANUARY 2012

LES MUSICIENS DU MONDE

A CROSSOVER STORY

2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016

Well here it is, the first official chapter of Arc III. As what I have done in the prelude, I am treading into waters where I have up to now been only dipping my feet in. Now its time to dive in and see if I can bring this massive ship of a story to port without too much problem.

The musical voice for this chapter is "Berlin Foot Chase" from The Bourne Supremacy soundtrack. But as well another theme that is central for this portion of the arc for the esoteric portion, "Dumbledore's Army" from the Harry Potter: Order of the Phoenix soundtrack.

But also a darker theme in the aftermath of Muggles and Mystics entering the Wizarding World and that world now knowing they're not as secure as they thought. The illusion shattered in other words, as well to make them see that their world is indeed deeply connected to our world.

CHAPTER ONE

JANUARY 2012, WEEK FOUR

LONDON, ENGLAND, U.K.

[HEATHROW INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, 1:00PM]

Shinji and Koji were the last ones to arrive to join the rest of the orchestra so they decided to take a black cab to Central London. Shinji hailed a cab as he held his umbrella to ward off the rain, and after they loaded their luggage they headed off, "今年は挑戦し続けています。 (This past year has been…challenging.)," Shinji spoke up first.

Koji nodded, "確かに。 津波を引き起こした地震、それから私たち自身の国での核の崩壊、そして他の世界の出来事。 それは世界がゆっくり地獄に行くようなものです。 (Indeed. An earthquake that caused a tsunami and then a nuclear meltdown in our own country as well as other world events; it's like the world is slowly going to hell.)," the Shinto priest in training admitted with his arms crossed.

Shinji looked out the window, "私はそう思う...しかし、私はまだそれほど望遠ではない。 (I suppose…but I'm not that hopeless just yet.)," he said and Koji gave only the hint of a smile before looking out his window.

The two boys were silent again as the black cab was now heading east for the city before Koji broke the silence, "...私はモハマドが私たちのすべてと一緒に向かおうとしている場所を見渡しました。 私は、確かにいくつかの挑戦的な場所を言う必要があります。 彼の考えは何ですか？ (…I looked over the places Mohammad wants to head for with all of us. I have to say, some challenging locations indeed. What are his thoughts?)"

Shinji looked him and then at the window again. But then returned his focus to his friend, "まあ、私は、彼が今日オーケストラであることが本当に意味することを掘り下げて欲しいと思うと思います。 ドキュメンタリープロジェクトを通じてストーリーテリングを改善できるかどうかを確認します。 (Well, I suppose he wants us to delve into what it really means to be an orchestra nowadays. And to see if we can improve our storytelling via our documentary projects.)," he explained to his friend.

Koji nodded, "これらの新しい不正者の私たち自身のトラブルについては言及しません。 それについて言えば、今起こっていることはあなたが電話で話すことができないのですか？ (Not to mention our own troubles with these new rogues. Speaking of which, what is going on right now you are unable to talk over the phone?)," he asked the former pilot and he scooted over to whisper to him, "私たちは従業員を介して彼らの使命を浸透させています。 (We're infiltrating their ministry via an employee.)," which Koji's eyes widened, "何？ (What?)"

MEANWHILE IN CENTRAL LONDON

Near Piccadilly Circus in one of the small streets that led to smaller alleys a woman was heading for what seemed to be a decrepit building. She opened the door and sees an elevator's doors open, "Where to miss," a man was there to greet her in a clean dark green uniform.

"The Ministry's Department of New Technology," she told him as she clutched her bag. The man nodded and the elevator headed down for five floors and then moved backwards for several moments and down seven more floors and then over the intercom came a message, "Welcome to the Department of New Technology."

The woman thanked the elevator operator and headed down the black tiled hallway to her department. It was a relatively new department where it was the magical society's new foray into the 21st century, the Internet and the even more recent advent of social media. Unfortunately with the younger generation more adept online than older generations there has been a call to control the uploading of videos as well as the normal population from stumbling upon their world via these videos. So whenever someone non-magical would try to see a video like young wizards or witches performing magic an error message would pop up or the uploads would be manipulated so that it would look like they were created with Photoshop or some other after effects software. However, today was different when she approached the entrance.

"Wand check," a security guard requested and she held out her wand to make sure it was hers by having as usual, water coming out in a fountain like effect. Then she showed her ID and was allowed entry, "Have a good day at work miss," he tipped his hat and she smiled kindly as she headed for her workstation.

She sets down her purse besides her computer and pulls out a USB drive. She installs it and puts in her password. She then continued working while the drive's light then beeped green.

[Music bit "Backdoor Breach" from Jason Bourne]

[THE STRAND PALACE HOTEL, 1:12PM]

After a few minutes of waiting Dante got a pop up window where he has access, "Fatma I can just kiss you and make babies with you right now," he called out across the room while she was in the bathroom drying her hair, "Your contact in Scarlett has great access."

She laughed as she stepped out with her hair now dried and dressed in black boots, dark blue leggings and a black blouse with a burgundy turtleneck, "Is that proposal," she humored.

He turned around and grinned with him in a woolen vest over a white shirt and grey trousers. His shoes were off with only grey socks on, "Perhaps, but these past few months our plan has paid off while we were covering the Occupy protests from New York to Madrid and even Istanbul," he replied.

She walked to him and placed her hands on his shoulders as he worked on accessing the algorithm with the help of Scarlett, her team as well as those he's worked with in the past; Tucker (Philadelphia), Mike (The Bronx, New York City), Yussef (Istanbul), Andrew (London), Vladimir (Moscow), and Claude (Paris), they all now have access to a brand new system before the insurgents do. However, they also have to keep in mind of the magical authorities their mystic friends have warned them about as well as their response time, which was rapid if they were detected.

BACK AT THE DEPARTMENT OF NEW TECHNOLOGY

The woman in question was typing away and doing mouse clicks on various windows to allow access into the system with regards to keep track of various wizards and witches who now have access to the Internet to share their magical talents with each other. It's this sort of security that perhaps the insurgents are using to block their activity from even the likes of MI5/MI6 and the National Security Agency. She was aiding the hackers as a concerned citizen of impending terror from the WWAEI, as well as the safety of her grandparents and parents who have helped her to get to this point via her education and support. As a window popped up to allow the download she looked at the portraits one more time, she clicked her mouse and it started.

BACK AT THE STRAND PALACE

"Okay everyone, it's started. With our past attempts to warn them with information regarding this group, at least this will get their attention," Dante told those online via a secured connection for video chat.

"We have a 15 minute window before we are found out. However, with multiple proxy servers, we should finish this shortly," Scarlett told him, "This plan is brilliant," she added with a grin and he smiled.

"No problem and with a phishing file you have in our mole's USB, her network won't catch it yet," but then Andrew detected something, "An alert has been sent. Their security has been notified and will storm the department in seven minutes."

They all cursed, "Merde! We won't have time to complete the download," Claude declared, "We need to log out immediately," he added as he looked at his own monitor, "A plan B is required!"

"Cool it. We've been through this before," Tucker spoke up, "Play it cool. First step is they ask for confirmation. Then they'll storm our network. But yeah, the woman in the department has to get mobile soon and fast," he warned them of their window now closing with a glimmer of hope.

BACK IN THE DEPARTMENT

The woman in question was now hearing an alarm in her sector, "Possible hack in progress. Quit your work and head out immediately," was said over the intercom system.

She stopped the hack for a moment and took out her phone and resumed it via a mobile network. She shut down her work bit by bit; she was a methodical woman making sure she can continue later. She checked her watch, "Eleven minutes remaining. Best get a move on," she then shut down her computer and moved to plan B, mobile hacking.

As she gathered her things she and other employees formed in single file and walked out of the department and took different elevator networks to the main atrium where many other employees were either going to different branches or evacuated in case an intruder was inside the ministry. She didn't have time, 'I hope the others get here soon.'

STRAND PALACE

"Okay we're back on. Good thing she has a connection to our mobile network down there," Yussef said in his window, stating that the woman was using her phone as a mobile outsourcing router, "But how was she able to give her phone the same remote access capability as her USB drive which she has to disconnect right now?"

His question was a good one but then Scarlett was silent and Dante looked at her, "Explain miss, now."

Scarlett coyly smiled at him, "Well…this gives us more time. Now what we have to do is head for the location and use multiple signals our phones can pick up and proceed with the download. I'll meet you there," she told him and her screen went to black.

He cursed, "Joder! Fatma you're in charge of this station! Damn it," he puts on his shoes and heads out of the suite, running for the elevator as fast as he can.

MEANWHILE, UP NORTH

SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS

[COLLEGE OF ADVANCED MAGICAL STUDIES, 1:21PM]

Snow was falling in the fjord area where a loch was frozen only at the edges while the remaining body of water remained free flowing. The castle has stood here for 1100 years, longer than the legacy of the Great Esoteric War. It also lies 50 miles north of a boarding school for primary magical learning, for students from ages 11-17. What makes this unique is it has ties to Germany, France, Holland, Spain and Ireland; for one the country as a whole has history with those nations either through trade or war, but also, more importantly, the first to begin the steps in rectifying relations since World War II between magi groups. The new aim now is to improve relations with the mystical communities but also, hoping to admit mystic students; but the issue with that lies in the current standardized education model does not suit the needs of mystics, whose training is highly personalized, depending on families and communities.

But right now, the main issue is the first match since students returned from winter holiday. A football match between two dorms: The Red Lion and the Black Leviathan dorms, but this is football with a magical touch. In fact the sport is a mixture of football with rugby where their shoes allowed them fly above to floating platforms of the field where both sides try to score goals in one of three rings: The center was worth ten while the other two are worth five a piece. With the snow and wind in effect it just added to the excitement and drama of the match, trying to score and tackling each other was just the frosting on the cake at this point.

One of the witches in the stands, Henriette Fournier, a French student originally from Provence with her winter coat on, her curly brown hair flowing but also wearing a scarf and hat, with warm trousers as well was reading 'The Eagle's Eye' paper, the equivalent of The Guardian newspaper on the new development of the ministry's new department, "Come on Henriette," William Underwood, the Yorkshire native told her who was tall with an athletic build, broad-shouldered with dirty blonde hair with a heavy woolen coat on and hat, "James is out in front!"

"I know," she said, "Just trying to read a bit here. Top security for this new department and tight as a drum," she told him, "I know. My dad tells me enough when he writes and when he heads home from work," he told her, "Oh close one James," he hollered out.

"Aren't there threats of breaking in from outside parties," she asked loudly so he can hear him, "Nah, only idiots would do that," he responded, which she took at face value, but something was bothering her about this.

BACK IN LONDON

[PICCADILLY CIRCUS, 1:31PM]

Dante and Scarlett arrived at the location but to find the actual building was proving frustrating. As both walked on opposite ends of the area, until they come across an adjacent building where according to CCTV the woman in question headed inside. Then the two see each other, "What now," Dante asked her, "What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking we enter the server room inside. But not the main one, but rather the secondary server that allows them access the Internet upstairs, plus, our opportunity to…"

But he stopped her and he notices a group of men coming around the corner, "Come on," he took her by the arm and walked off as friends while he was monitoring the Wi-Fi signal off his phone. As the two headed for an alleyway he glances at the group of men who entered the building in question and disappeared, confounding him.

The two looked around and he sent her a text:

[We're in range. But is there a blind spot to get access inside the building upstairs?]

He waited for a moment for a response:

[No need. Remain where you are.]

Indeed, there was another part of the plan, one that Scarlett didn't tell the hacker group anything about…

[TRAFALGAR SQUARE, 1:34PM]

Scarlett's private team of black hat hackers were using a satellite dish to use as a way to gain more direct access to the elusive network used by the wizards. With the woman in question and using their own network layout in an office space five stories up in one of the buildings were typing away and clicking their mouse away, "Look at this. The key logger," one told another.

The de-facto leader looked at it, "Relay this to our new allies. Now," he told him and off they went, to the races, "The sooner we get this algorithm before the enemy does, the better. We'll handle the legal ramifications later."

His tech crew understood and set to work on this right away, making sure LMM and their network will soon have access by the end of the day.

MEANWHILE…

Back in the Ministry of Magic, the woman in question was standing in the middle of the crowd got the message on her phone. She walked up to the security Auror, "Excuse me sir. How long must we wait here," she asked politely.

"Until the security search is complete. There is a possibility that an outsider has breached our defenses. Shouldn't be too long miss," he told her and she nodded as she then headed back to her spot.

She looked around to find an opening to disappear. After a few moments she then got a text:

[We're ready. On standby.]

She then responded with:

[All right. Use Dante and Scarlett's phones to do the rest of the work. They are close.]

And so she sent the two a message:

[Calibrate your phones to the incoming signal to use as routers so their R.A.T. inside the network can now proceed with the download.]

She waited:

[All right. Do it fast.]

[We can't wait longer. Aurors are patrolling the surface as well.]

At this moment she knew time was running out and now getting anxious.

MEANWHILE BACK IN TRAFALGAR SQUARE

Scarlett's team now got hold of the R.A.T. (Remote Access Tool) left in the network on standby and used the closest phones to the network to hitch a ride on to gain access. So with a few more moments to spare they gained access and now, "We're in."

"Proceed with the download," he ordered and with an arrangement with the others, as well as a system of five servers in Poland, France, Russia, Turkey and Spain, they were able to have the computing power necessary to achieve their goals.

In the Ministry the Aurors issued a green light to allow everyone back to work while the woman in question breathed a sigh of relief when she got a message on her phone:

[We're in. By sundown we should have it.]

And indeed, when the sun had set that day the entire magical community were shocked that someone had indeed breeched their ministry from the outside and in a manner they still have no experience with, hacking their new computer system and the magical press had a field day.

[End music bit]

THAT EVENING, BACK AT THE MAGICAL COLLEGE…

[THE RED LION DORMITORY, 9:34PM]

In the Red Lion dormitory, the house was ablaze with a rare stalemate match and itching to get a move on for a rematch next week, especially James who was now discussing plans to win with William and they see Henriette sitting down listening to the radio with old-fashioned looking headphones. James Parker is the son of a wizard and witch who first led the first wave of resistance against a dark wizard who was now imprisoned since the mid-1990s and has black hair with blue eyes with a toned build due to the sport he plays. Indeed, the overall technology of the magi stopped progressing between 1941-1962. So if technology were to be used, they're all old-fashioned by modern sensibilities. In this case, Henriette and Jane using a radio that could have been from the first World War with some magical adjustments.

"Henriette? Jane? What are you listening to," James spoke up as Jane looked up, "Shush…we're trying to listen," she told him off.

William rolled his eyes, "Why not just unplug and have us listen," he took put their headphone plugs despite their protests and the news blared out:

"This is Nicholas Highsmith reporting live from the Ministry for Magic. Earlier today there was a possible breach and by sundown, those earlier reports were confirmed. An outside group has breached the new Department of New Technology via the Muggle technique of hacking the server with at this moment unknown means. Aurors have been called in to investigate and we will follow up on this event as it goes on.

This caught everybody's attention and then the news got more intriguing and now legitimately terrifying:

In other news, there are reports where an insurgent group are threatening with the breaking in our North Sea prison to break free a dark wizard captured in the late 1990s, Grandmaster Slawomir with suspected dark wizard and his former second in command, Renocilius and lieutenant Helena Staunton. If these reports are indeed accurate, then it seems the British community of witches; wizards and even mystics will be in great risk. We follow up on these reports as the story develops…

Henriette turns off the radio and looked around, "…What are we going to do," she asked James, "…I don't know. This is far bigger than anything we have heard about since the dark lord's first downfall. My parents had a hard time when Slawomir caused trouble here when he declared plans to conquer the mainland."

"But then what about the mystics," Jane asked around, "No doubt even they are taking notice of this situation," but William scoffed, "I doubt it. Those prats don't get interested unless it targets them specifically. They didn't get involved with Slawomir because they felt it was not important enough."

Then another student, a Scot this time Hanford Allaway, a Scottish boy their age with a innocent face, brown hair, brown eyes, fair skin, extremely talented in natural healing plants and charms, walked into their dormitory's common room, "Hey listen up! Alastair is in his estate in Kent! Plus I heard he already knows who might be responsible with the hack that went on at the ministry!"

The students around them were listening intently, "Really? How does he know," Jane asked which Hanford nodded, "I don't know, but it would be pretty wicked to find out," he told them.

"Should we tell the others," James asked his friends, "I mean some of us have known him for seven years," he added and William thought on it and then Jane suggested, "Should we tell the others in the other dorms? And then we sneak into London by morning."

"We can't do that just so freely," Henriette felt that this was a bad idea and going to London now would be like going to a hot zone at the moment, "The Aurors would definitely monitor traffic of people in and out of London," she reminded them.

"But to not know what is going on and perhaps Alastair knowing who are the culprits is just too good to pass up," William countered, "Come on. Let's just go and see and we'll be back by tomorrow night."

She was still unsure, but then ultimately agreed to tag along. Soon enough, James, William, Jane, Hanford and Henriette headed for the three other dorms: The Golden Eagle, Black Leviathan and White Stag dormitories to find their friends in question. So in the Golden Eagle dorm they found Angelina Assendorp a Dutch girl with fair blonde hair, deep blue eyes, and with a wistful but deep personality and Basilio Abatangelo an Italian exchange student from Genoa who had an air of haughtiness and intelligence, but in terms of knowing Alastair he knew him the best. Then they headed for the White Stag dorm where they found Anthony Jernigan, a Welsh student, tall, fair in appearance with brown hair and green eyes and one of the more handsome students, but he has a great work ethic and talent for dueling. Then they headed for the Black Leviathan dorm where they found Rachel Brunner who is a transfer student from Bavaria with short dark brown hair and dark brown eyes with ties to old wizarding lines in the region, as well as two old friends of Alastair. One Spaniard and an Irishman named Vincente Gonzalez Arroyo and Michael Barrett where both are big and tall, a balance of muscle and fat but more of the former with short, buzz cut hairstyles.

Afterwards they waited for early morning before the sun rose so they can use the main fireplaces in their dorms' common rooms to Floo their way to someone they all know and his reputation as one of the youngest Aurors for Wizarding UK as well as one of the few in their camp who have gone to the magical dimension for years of training as well as becoming part of an old tradition of politics and social graces called "The Game".

TUESDAY

KENT, ENGLAND, UK

[RATHBONE ESTATE, 5:34AM]

Alastair was in his study early in the morning going over intelligence the Auror organization sent him in the past 15 hours since the start of the hack and who were involved. He knew ahead of time who might be responsible, but as for their agenda he was still somewhat in the dark. But as he went over the documents his fireplace acted up and he stood up. The fire turned emerald green and one person came out and then another, and another and sooner than he knows it, a total of eleven people stepped out of the fireplace. Alastair loosened his grip on his wand and looks at them and recognizes some, "James, Michael, a pleasant surprise, same with you Basilio and Rachel. However, Jane and William, interesting to see you two here,"

William never particularly close to Alastair, but he respected him for his talents as a wizard but also as a one on one combatant, as far as he's heard anyway. His younger sister Jane greeted back, "It is. And I'm sure you're aware of what is going on in London," she got to the point.

He smiled, "Indeed and as you can see on the board, my most probable suspects," and the group looked at ID photos that are apparently from different nations. They were surprised with ¾ of the photos were the identities of, "Muggles? Muggles infiltrated the ministry," William was more than surprised, more along the lines of shocked.

"Well, yes and no. Three of them," Alastair pointed to the photos of Shinji, Asuka, and Dante, "Are Muggles, where based on their communications, were polishing up the ideas of how to infiltrate. With advice from these five," he pointed to the mystics: Wilfredo, Cecilia, Fatma, Delilah and Koji, "And hackers," he then pointed to the pictures of Tucker, Scarlett, and the rest of their teams.

The group was flabbergasted, "How is this done? Not since 1666 when the fires ravaged London were an infiltration happened regarding alchemic secrets," Jane spoke up about that moment of history.

"You're correct. However…I suspect that there is a hidden agenda for their hack. Nevertheless, London is on full lockdown, especially Mahogany Row near Piccadilly Circus. Aurors are monitoring magical and mystical groups moving in and out of the city," Alastair told them.

"But what if…what if these people who are your main suspects decide to run," Rachel asked, now curious if those on the wall are dangerous. But before he can answer his valet, an Indian British man named Rajesh entered, "Sir, your father wishes to know if you would still attend the concert this weekend in London," he asked and Alastair nodded, "I would yes."

"He also wishes to know if you would like to accompany him and your mother today to see the morning rehearsals in Covent Garden," he asked again and Alastair looked at him and then at his friends who dropped by, "Why not, I'll come. How about you," he asked them.

"Uh…sure. What orchestra are we seeing," Rachel asked, even though unsure, she wanted to tag along simply because of Alastair, "Well, an American based orchestra with an international flair; Les Musiciens du Louvre."

Henriette jumped up, "Really? Oh we must go! They are extraordinary," she exclaimed and William who is not up for classical music, hardly at all really, but seeing her excited to go he relented, "How are we getting there?"

After asking that Rajesh led them to the dining room, "Breakfast will be served early and then we will take several cars to take us there. Master Rathbone Sr. wishes it as well as Mistress Rathbone," he told them, referring to Alastair's parents.

Then Alastair's younger brother walked down the steps in a dress robe over his navy blue pajamas and slippers, "Rajesh, good morning," he asked cheerily and looked at his older brother and his friends, "Did I miss something?"

"Nothing too important at the moment. Now come, breakfast will be served and then we head for London," he told him and he joined the others as they entered the dining room, shortly after the two's parents arrived already dressed.

MEANWHILE IN LONDON

[CADOGAN HALL, CHELSEA/BELGRAVIA, 8:23AM]

The orchestra was setting up in the same concert hall they performed in five years ago. It was serendipitous to say the least, with what feels to be coming full circle in how their current orchestral model got started and how much it has progressed since then. Zach and Zane were setting up the cameras and microphones, Dante was at the computer set up to stream their rehearsals online along with Scarlett who volunteered her services, and the rest of the group were tuning their instruments and catching up on small talk since yesterday's events. Their new honorary member Oskana Yurlova won't be officially performing with them until their next trip next month in Mozambique, their first ever trip to the African continent.

Outside the concert hall black, luxurious cars arrived in the form of Rolls Royce's' as well as Bentleys'. They got out in their coats and scarves with the young women wearing boots or sneakers. Alastair along with his father and younger brother dressed in a three-piece suit with an overcoat on, their mother was in a business dress with her coat on. Their valet and drivers agreed to stay outside while the rest entered the concert hall. As they entered the hall they see the orchestra setting up and tuning, seeing music students, concert organizers and music director Peter Wright from the Royal Academy of Music there talking with Mohammad and his wife Catherine with Dania. One of the concert organizers approached Rathbone Sr. and shook his hand, "Glad you could come today. And I see you've brought your wife, a pleasure as well."

She nodded her head, "And we've brought along extra guests with us. Would that be all right," she asked and the concert organizer nodded, "Not a problem at all. Please come and have a seat, all of you," he looked at them all.

The college aged wizards and witches followed the Rathbone family to their area of seats. William was grumbling about boring baroque music while Henriette was chastising him for his commentary while the others were more curious as they hear the orchestra on stage chatting as they were getting ready and using very, very blue language in their banter. As Alastair sat down he immediately noticed Eda in her seat as violist but also sees her other case, a violin case beside her on the floor. He admired her graceful form, her brown hair down past her shoulders, with a blue turtleneck sweater that complimented her as well as her thigh high boots that looked enticing with her dark blue jeans.

Mohammad was going over the schedule when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He looked over his shoulder, "Ah Peter, are you comfortable," he asked and the older man nodded with a smile, "Very much so. Say have you heard from Armand lately?"

"Uh yes I have. He participated in the Keats Institute concert last month. Very interesting but he asked if I should give it a try," he told his former mentor, "What have you, said, sir," Peter asked.

Mohammad sighed, "I declined. Les Musiciens was never formed to participate in competitions. Besides I don't think…I should. I was never good enough for such an honor. My colleagues have however participated. I am proud of them," which then Peter noticed a very subtle look of sadness in his former student, "Then why not take part?"

Mohammad gathered his sheets of music for rehearsals, "I knew my place then sir. I wasn't good enough for a future chance. Even now I'm still not sure," he gets up and heads for the stage. Peter looks on while Dania approached him as his wife Catherine sits down, "Still not convinced huh," she asked her husband.

Peter nodded a no, "Not a bit. Dania why can't he see he's surpassed himself from 1986," he asked to which she responded, "Because he wants to prove himself that one day he would participate and take the grand prize. His colleagues got their chances to study with maestro Dario Belmonte and he did not. It was one of our reasons to head for America at the time."

Peter and Catherine listened and realized Mohammad has worked hard all his life for a chance, he lost. But they also know he's moved beyond it now and doesn't need the grand prize, "But still, it would be great if he just participated. If not for the prize but at least to show his skills along with his orchestra," Catherine spoke, "They deserve it at least," she added.

While the orchestra talked they noticed Mohammad walking onstage, "You have had a partial day off yesterday and rehearsed during the evening, which I know was out of character of me but as you know, last minute changes are a given. So thank our concert organizers that we can perform once more here in Cadogan Hall," he told them.

Which they did and thanked the group in unison, "Thank you," as well as in multiple languages; then Mohammad spoke again, "Now then as a reminder. We have rehearsed even while we were all busy last month with our assignments. We will perform two pieces by Henry Purcell, one piece by Charpentier, Te Deum and one piece by Rameau. So an Anglo-Franco evening pretty much…like before," he laughed, as did a few others and most looked forward to perform Charpentier's piece again and with the choir from the Paris Conservatory coming today to boot.

"But I promise you guys, new material this second half of our year. Now! Let's get to it," he told them and they were ready to rehearse their first piece of the day.

MEANWHILE IN THE NORTH SEA

Several hundred miles off the coast of Scotland, 50 miles from the wind farms the country has installed for its electrical grid to fight global warming, a prison escape was underway, "Send a flash message to Scottish headquarters and to the ministry immediately," the head warden of the prison shouted to his men.

Several used the Floo network to head for Glasgow and London but he and the rest were scrambling to ward off the attackers who have Apparated there. Curses and magical blasts were flying about; blasting stone and several were launched back to the walls of the closed cells.

The man in charge of the wizards and witches attacking the prison launched several killing curses at the guards and was in a duel with the head ward for control of the prison. But this was a diversion as the others rushed downstairs and attacked the guards in ferocious manner, using curses to cut them up violently. A bloody mess ensues until they finally get to the cell where one shouted, "Bombarda Maxima!"

The door and masonry exploded inward and inside an elderly man with the posture of someone much younger, his energy still robust, "My lord," one knelt on his knee as did the other.

The old man looked at them, "I see Cornelius finally mustered a force to come get me," he said in a sardonic way, "No, we are of the WWAEI. We have learned of your past deeds. We wish for you to offer your services while in return we will offer our own unique qualities as well."

Then one took out a long box from his bag, "A wizard can't fight without the use of a wand," he said and opened it, it was the old wizard's wand they got in storage when they broke in. It was a tough steal with enchantment spells around it to prevent theft but they got it.

He held his wand, made of holly, 13 inches long with a core of unicorn hair. Warmth immediately seeped through him and it was like reuniting with an old friend, "Yes, now come."

So they followed him upstairs to where the warden and the remaining guards were disposed off with bullets once they were disarmed. Cornelius scolded them for using Muggle means, but then the old wizard coughed and he stood at attention, "Now sir, no need to be rude. We need new blood in order to bring about or revolution and these people of the WWAEI are our brethren in arms and in spirit."

The group bowed and Cornelius as well, though he bowed with slight intimidation of his former leader who is now free. The old wizard was given a robe over his shabby prison uniform and soon they Apparated away from the prison. By that afternoon every witch and wizard now knows of the headline:

'Dark Lord Slawomir has escaped from prison!'

Meanwhile another wizard, heading to London via a car, with his driver stating, "We are approaching London as we speak sir," and the wizard nodded, fingering his scars on his right eyebrow and near his bottom lip, close to the chin.

"Have us check in our base of operations. We shall not make a move until all players are present," he instructed, "Very well, sir," and off they go on the rain slicked highway, southward to London.

[Music bit: "Alexanderplatz" The Bourne Supremacy Extended Score]

WEDNESDAY

LONDON, ENGLAND, UK

[ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL, 11:23AM]

Eda was standing outside the steps of the cathedral with London's own encampment of the Occupy Movement fighting on to remain where they were. Her scarf wrapped around her neck to keep her warm, her coat buttoned up and looked up and around, looking out for her friends on the rooftops of the surrounding buildings. Dante used his drone to monitor the activity below between the protestors and the police, ready for any confrontation.

MEANWHILE AT THE STRAND PALACE HOTEL

With rehearsals finished for lunchtime, Scarlett and her team of hackers were in the conference room where the tech hub for the orchestra was set up. The rest of the musicians helped out by communicating with the others near the cathedral for their plan, to meet an old friend who is coincidentally investigating the same group they are after, Yuri Ivanovich. He was there with his mystic deputy officer of a Russian task force of mystics for the Order of the White Lotus of Turkey to investigate when and where the WWAEI will strike. Since the orchestra found out, they reached out to him and requested they meet. He agreed as long as they send at least one or two people. Eda and Asuka volunteered.

BACK AT THE CATHEDRAL

Eda was standing there and sees Asuka approaching her with her marine green jacket over her pants with black boots on, "I scouted the area, we're safe for the moment," she told her.

"Where is he," Eda asked anxiously, "He said he would be here," she added as she looked around, "I don't like we're out in the open. Especially with what the mystics told us about what is going on around here since the hack," she whispered to her the last part.

"As long as we are not near Mahogany Row we're fine. And besides, Dante is not using it at this moment. He's only monitoring us from his vantage point above," Asuka motioned her head to the building across the street and they do indeed see the drone above them.

Eda's phone rang and she knew the others back at the hotel would be listening in on the call, "Hello?"

"There is a black cab coming in a few moments. Prepare to enter so we may talk," and the call ended and she looked around for a black cab and she noticed one and then two coming from the other direction but it was on the other side of the street.

Then a black cab came on her side and she and Asuka headed for it to see if it was Yuri inside it. Sure enough he was inside "Залезай. (Get in.)," he told the two in Russian. He then told the cab driver, "Head down two blocks and then make a left for one block."

"Yes sir," and the driver did just that with the rest of those on the roofs were observing them via binoculars and Dante with the drone but he remember to only allow it to fly up 400 feet.

MEANWHILE

Adjacent to St. Paul's Cathedral several Aurors were monitoring the area of protestors and police. They noticed two women who entered a black cab and heading off, "Sir, the two women entered a black cab and heading down several blocks. But not leaving the immediate area," one Auror communicated to Alastair via a palantir.

"Keep an eye on their movements. As well as for those who are remaining within the vicinity of the cathedral," his voice spoke out of the stone, "Understood sir," the Auror replied and continued to monitor the area.

"Those bloody wankers got the drop on us at the ministry all for a new code we are still trying to incorporate into our own Internet," one spoke out to him as he looked through his spyglass.

The other looked at him briefly before returning his gaze to the area, "They may be wankers but so far no direct criminal activity. Their set up is closer to our own on monitoring for a potential situation to occur. Nevertheless," he continued, "We must get them to cooperate with us or…or we arrest them."

The second looked at him and nodded, "Agreed."

MEANWHILE

As the black cab stopped the driver got out, "А теперь дамы, объясните, что происходит и почему вы рисковать своей жизнью и средства к существованию еще раз? (Now then ladies, explain what is going on and why are you risking your lives and livelihoods once more?)," he wasted no time in asking them and the two began explaining the situation.

They told him of what has transpired so far, but their current positioning around the cathedral was to find the target on their part, a high level official from the ministry itself who has orchestrated and laundered financial security for the WWAEI and more shockingly allowed security to be lax when they breached the wizarding prison in the North Sea. And using their now new access to the wizarding computer system, they can now keep up with the rogues on the ground and with the algorithm can monitor them in a mobile way internationally.

Yuri listened to them, "Хм, что показательно, чтобы не сказать больше. Но помните, что вы в логово льва, так сказать о том, кто рассматривает свои действия как уголовное преступление, несмотря на ваши намерения. (Hmm, that is revealing to say the least. But remember you are in the lion's den so to speak regarding who views your actions as a criminal offense, despite your intentions.)"

"Мы вроде понял, что много. (We sort of figured that much.)," Asuka responded and added with, "Тем не менее вы на нашей стороне относительно конфликтующих повесток вы сейчас стоят? (Nevertheless are you on our side regarding conflicting agendas you are now faced with?)," she asked and he nodded.

"Конечно. Я не могу забыть свои действия в Москве, касающиеся GBCC и ваших друзей мистические держит свои собственные против этих неонацистских лохи. (Of course. I can't forget your actions in Moscow regarding the GBCC and your mystic friends holding their own against those neo-Nazi fuckers.)," he told her and breathed in and out as he looked out at the grey day of London, "Я повременить худший из авроров на хвосте, но имейте в виду, они как вкопанные, чтобы привести вас на допрос, как вы все они находятся в поиске своей цели на землю вмятину в WWAEI. Будьте готовы к этому. (I'll hold off the worst of the Aurors on your tail but be warned, they are as driven to bring you in for questioning as you all are in finding your target to land a dent in the WWAEI. Be prepared for it.)," he warned them and the two women nodded.

He checked his watch, "Время вышло. Прошу прощения, мы не можем говорить гораздо дольше. Но меры предосторожности и все. (Time's up. I apologize we can't talk for much longer. But precautions and all.)," he said as he shook their hands, "Помните, что вы наблюдали, как кто-то добросовестный и умный, как ваш коллега Данте. Просто кое что для раздумий. (Remember, you are watched someone as diligent and intelligent as your colleague Dante. Just something to think about.)," he added and the two took this to heart.

Asuka and Eda left the cab and made their way back to St. Paul's, "Kevin will be here tomorrow morning. He already went over the plan with Gwen and I am ready for my part," she told her red-headed colleague, "Good. Just remember when shit goes down, keep going and remain calm. Just like Philadelphia, okay?"

Eda smiled, "Come on Asuka, you know me," she said with a smirk, "If the cops can't chase me down, what makes wizards with wands can," and Asuka chuckled, "Okay, just be a lady about it."

The two continued their banter about it while others however looked on…

MEANWHILE

As the Aurors observed the area they noticed the two women from the orchestra leaving the black cab, "Sir, the two women are making their way back to the cathedral and the cab itself is leaving the area altogether. Do we approach the two women?"

"Hold your ground and monitor them for now. However, we will place you and others in and around Mahogany Row. If they make a move towards there we will bring them in and it confirms our suspicions about them regarding the hack, regardless of their intentions."

"Roger sir," the Auror said and ceased communications and continued observing the rest of LMM as they see them reporting on the event below, "Very disconcerting how Muggles are making their anger palpable," he whispered.

"Indeed. The police's reaction to them as well as the protestors occupying public space; very unusual compared to our standards," the other spoke and continued observing and then the drove rose up, "And their surveillance methods have advanced, even if its for their press or law enforcement agencies," he added.

The older Auror nodded, "Signs and wonders," he stated simply.

[End music bit]

LATER THAT EVENING

[THE BLACKFRIAR PUB, CENTRAL LONDON, 10:02PM]

Eda was in the pub drinking alone even with the packed environment, a glass of scotch when then she sees Alastair coming in in a formal, elegant three-piece suit with a pinstriped midnight blue double-breasted blazer with matching trousers, green tie, and his blonde hair combed to the left. She was dressed in a turtleneck sweater colored blue with her black jeans and boots, "Nice to see you here in a regular pub, rich boy," she retorted playfully.

He sat down next to her, "I may be rich, but I do have class," he bowed his head slightly and sat down next to her, "One pint of stout please," he asked the bartender who nodded and proceeded to fill the glass.

Eda was silent as the chatter and music played, a soft jazz, "…You know, when you came yesterday to watch us rehearsing I was surprised. But why haven't you approached me as did your friends who went around and asked us questions," she gently prodded his mind.

He accepted his pint and took a sip before responding, "Well my dear, I was at a loss for words. It's been seven years since we have seen each other, talked to one another," he said and had a glint of longing and something unreadable in his eyes.

She looked down at her glass, "No word, not a call. I tried sending letters every week to see if you were all right. But all of my letters were returned to me. I kept everyone of them," she revealed to him, "Funny…there was so much I would express if I ever hear from you or see you…but now," she raised her glass and took a sip and was silent.

"What," he gently prodded to which she was silent, "Now I'm wordless," she admitted as she finished her drink and was about to leave, but he gently grabbed her hand, "You're leaving on my account?"

She looked at him and he noticed something in her eyes; a desire to open up more as well as to be on guard for some reason, "No, I just have to return to my hotel," she said but he gently motioned her to sit down, "Please…once I finish my pint I'll take you back, as a gentleman I insist."

She eyed him curiously and then complied, "All right. I'll let you," she said and he relaxed as he drank his stout. So she checked her Twitter feed regarding the orchestra's activities regarding what their covering on the Occupy movement as well as their baroque repertoire, not noting how he was taking glances at her.

When he finished the two exited the pub and he hailed a black cab, "The Strand Palace please," Eda said and the man nodded and off they went. The ride was relatively quiet as both looked out at London as it rained slightly, "Eda," he started to talk and she looked at him.

"…What are your hobbies these days," he asked casually and she smiled a bit as she looked out again, "I drive. Race sometimes but nothing special. I also exercise too and swim to relax," she said, "Nothing special really."

"I disagree. Anything you do catches my eye," he said as the cab then drove off for a short ride, "Why come out here for a drink? You could have gone to St, John's in Central London for convenience," he told her and she smiled, "I know but I wanted to stretch my legs a bit. I've been here before but didn't get to explore it. This time I aim to change that."

He looked at her and can't help but notice she's grown into a beauty in his eyes and wanted to invite her to his home for the night. Nothing amorous but just to be in her company a bit longer. But he knew not to, it pained him that she was with hackers who infiltrated the Department of New Technology and might be part of a plan to be carried out tomorrow. But he can't bring himself to arrest her or detain her somewhere to keep her out of harm's way so he can hunt down the others. But he played it cool and for the next few minutes of just relaxing and making small talk and attempting to catch up, despite the limited window at the moment, they finally arrived back at the hotel, "Thank you," she told the cab driver.

"Not a problem," he said and she paid him, and then she turned to Alastair, "I'll see you on concert night," she asked and he smiled charmingly, "Most definitely," and she smiled at that. So she waved goodbye as the cab drove off.

THURSDAY

LONDON, ENGLAND, UK

[THE STRAND PALACE, CENTRAL LONDON, 7:01AM]

Moans and groans filled Dante room as he was having sex with Fatma. She stayed with him in his room for the past few days when normally she would be bunked with Juliette or Christine. But this past week since she knew Dante was under stress coordinating this operation for the past few months with few resources, this was their 'now or never' moment and they better pull it off or their gamble was all for nothing. But right now, Dante was focused on Fatma solely, "Yes! Yes! Right there! Right…" she exclaimed and was startled as he moved her legs to move her to his right.

He gripped her hips firmly and pumped her in and out. He leaned forward, "Fatma…" he started and placed his head on her right shoulder, "This afternoon…I'm scared for us."

She looked at him and caressed his face with her right hand, "Don't be. Now please, let's start our day right. I beg you," she moaned and he grabbed her right leg, held it up and resumed to move his hips with strength and confidence. Twenty minutes later he was nearing his climax, now doggy style and once he did, he lied on top of her but supported his weight as he held the bedframe.

He gently kissed her along the contours of her neck and shoulders, "I love you," he said as if it were a mantra, "Dante…no matter what, we're thick as thieves," she told him and he smiled and shared a gentle kiss on the lips.

Afterwards they got up and cleaned up with the two showering together, with some sensual play to make it more enjoyable while also preparing for both morning rehearsals and afternoon escapades to catch their man and make their case known. What they don't know is the magical authorities are making their moves to protect their area as well, against them and against WWAEI.

MEANWHILE NEAR PICCADILLY CIRCUS,

[MAHOGANY ROW, WIZARDING LONDON WARD, 8:23AM]

Aurors were already stationed in and around the area following the plan set up by Alastair. Mahogany Row is a section of Wizarding London where it's an alley of store fronts and homes five stories high with store fronts still with signs that showcase what they do as it was centuries earlier. In other words the area has a pre-Industrial vibe if a regular person would somehow stumble across here. The vendors and customers were on edge a bit and Mr. and Mrs. Underwood were discussing the situation with the Parkers, "Can you believe all of this for an infiltration of the ministry? How is your department handling this," Mary Underwood asked her husband Martin about it.

He works for the Department of Internal Security and is a bit pudgy but no off putting, normal for middle-aged men and like their children both have fair skin and red hair, "We are in a bind here. One to make sure to investigate every head of each department and now looking into the workers. But we also don't want them to be intimidated to come to work as well. Paul, what about you and Lisbeth," he asked the Parkers.

The Parkers met when Paul was working for magical authorities in Uppsala where he met Lisbeth. Both work and their son James is now in university, and both work not as Aurors but rather as the equivalent of special investigators, "A mess. There was a lax in security as we can gather, but also a steady decrease in funding it. Not sure how the Aurors would find the culprits if they failed twice in preventing the hack and losing a former dark lord from prison."

Paul said and Lisbeh spoke up as well, "More on a matter of complacency since his downfall in the 90s. Since the country's ministry has relaxed on internal security, it's no surprise this happened," as she said this Mary scoffed.

"That and they all bollocksed up the whole country for both sides. Not including how the Muggles are handling their mess at the moment," she said as she paid for her purchases. Then the group of adults noticed more Aurors coming in and getting into position in the shadows.

"Merlin's beard," Martin exclaimed in a hush tone as he observed along with Paul and Lisbeth. Meawhile, outside of the wizarding ward the two sides are putting their pieces in play for a target as well as to showcase their power over the other.

[CADOGAN HALL, 8:29AM]

The orchestra was underway with their final preparations. No visitors allowed today for rehearsals but they were still live-streaming them regardless. The mystics and pilots passed messages to each other via paper notes instead of texting. Mohammad can sense something was going on, as did Dania, Yasmin and Liam. Mazhar couldn't make it due to his schoolwork this time around but he was checking in via Skype. For the morning they will rehearse Purcell one last time along with Rameau and Charpentier before Saturday night. Comparing musical performance to facing against magical and possibly city authorities for planning on breaking the laws under disguise, performing on stage is on par for most of them…

A FEW HOURS LATER

[WHITECHAPEL, 1:23PM]

A man was in an abandoned shop in Whitechapel dressed in wizarding robes with six to eight in black turtlenecks with cargo trousers, "So everything is set for us? To avoid the surveillance of the Aurors in Mahogany Row," one of the men asked.

"Yes," the man in robes responded, "You should have no problem with authorities while I'm in charge," he added, "What about the hackers who are causing unforeseen spikes in policing the ward," another one of the men asked.

"They are the main targets. Of course you lot broke out Slawomir in a bold stunt, but they are more focused on those who infiltrated the ministry," the wizard responded, which made the group of men; all battle hardened nodded in acknowledgment.

The wizard relaxed and took out a pouch of gold Galleons, "Enough in there I hope," he asked as the payment was for the eight in question and the leader, a silver haired but in athletic shape man took it and opened it, "As exactly as requested. Thank you. You restore our hope in magi for another day," he said cheekily.

Then the group in question put on black hoods with a veil covering their faces, but they are able to see through them and headed out through the back way and then the group were pushed back to the walls with a few fleeing and preparing to fire their guns, "Show yourselves," the leader shouted.

Then a person jumps down from above and lands behind him and knocked him out with a kick to the head. The few were also taken out and the ministry's official was apprehended, "Halt! Let me go! Don't you know who I am? I'm an official for the Ministry of Magic!"

He now looked at a group of five in grey hooded masks to contrast with the other men, "We know, but also we know of your money laundering, corruption charges we have dug up in your classified records as well as your current mistress while married with two children. May we go on," one spoke with an apparent voice modifier.

The official was furious and struggled in the grip of two hooded strangers as he looked at those down the alley fighting some and the knocked out ones. He then felt an intense electrical shock that made him paralyzed and felt his wand taken from his belt. So he was carried off as dead weight to a van and soon the others followed suit running from the others who started to fire. The grey hooded people took off the masks, "Now, where to next," asked Fatma and the official was shocked.

"Muggles? I'm kidnapped by muggles," he exclaimed, "Well…no. Mystics," Cecilia told him and held a combat knife at his neck and spoke, "You're under surveillance you are about to lead us directly to Mahogany Row undetected. Any false move, you will suffer our anger."

"Anger The only one with the right to be angry is," then he got hit in the gut by another who turned out to be Asuka, "As far as you are concerned, we are no one, now cooperate or else," she then hit him again and off they go, not noticing the cars they needed shortly.

MEANWHILE DOWN ON SOUTHWARK

Eda was parked alongside with Kevin down in South London and once they got a text they rushed immediately for the Blackfriars Bridge, "Okay Kevin, this is it! Are you and Gwen ready," she asked over the radio.

"More than ready. First job in London, I'm stoked," he told her. He and Gwen just arrived last night via Max's Rust Bucket III jet and now his car was ready for anything as opposed for Philly less than two years ago. Not to mention magical runes along the layout of the car to prevent shock, magical attacks and bombs. It was a fast tank of a car, maintaining its classic design alongside the modern and nimble Mitsubishi EVO 8.

"There might be traffic on Strand, but we can take the A40 and it's right down on Shaftesbury Avenue and on the end we meet them after they hand deliver the official and proof on what's going on. Without getting caught by wizarding police," she instructed him and he responded, "Roger," and off they raced and on their route they saw the van that had the LMM who got their target, "Shit they passed us," Kevin exclaimed, "Stay focused! We'll meet them on the dot," she as she shifted to third and raced past Kevin who was now smiling, "Oh yeah!"

[PICCADILLY CIRCUS, 1:35PM]

Asuka along with Shinji and Dante were in the area scattered about the traffic induced area walking back in forth playing as they are sometimes, tourists taking pictures and then they noticed the van where the mystics were holding the official in tow, "It's almost time," Asuka whispered to Shinji who went to their positions.

Dante was now alone and with a hands-free headset connected to this phone he updated information to Scarlett at their hub back at the hotel and with others at her own hub, "Van is in place. Operation Eight Eyes is about to commence," he told her.

"Roger sir. With the Aurors now in Mahogany Row as reported by the department's employee there might be difficulties than expected. And as I have mentioned I do have a plan set up if they give chase to us, or those delivering the package at the moment. Understood," she relayed.

"Copy. I'll continue to update information on the ground until we are done today. Over and out," he told her and walked off to his portion of the area. As with everyone else in the group, sweaters and jackets for the cold and for him with a waistcoat on over his shirt with a wool blazer over grey trousers and black shoes fitted the mood for the operation.

Meanwhile…

[MAHOGANY ROW, 1:39PM]

The van parked near and alleyway that led up to the wizarding ward and the five hooded mystics dragged out the now gagged and tied, "Okay what now," Cecilia asked Wilfredo, "We dump him to their equivalent of a sheriff's office with the necessary documents," he told her.

The man in question was struggling under the grip of him along with Koji while the girls were covering their front and back. Then came another alleyway, darker than the one they were at which thankfully was deserted, "What do you think," Fatma looked to Delilah, "Might as well to avoid detection just a bit more. Plus we can hide our identities in the process," she said and the group agreed to head down the dark alley.

The dark alley immediately was apparent to sell items of a dark magical nature and occult mystic supplies that really put off the mystic group, "Jesus…What the hell is this doing here next to their ward," Fatma was upset by the revelation.

"I don't know. Apparently Slawomir was dabbling in all of this according to Scarlett's contact in order to understand us. However we feel about it, he was on the right track for his so called revolution," Delilah explained, which was news to her.

Koji looked around and above and radioed Shinji who was also using a headset with the phone, "We are monitored nearby, cause a disturbance nearby so we can deliver this guy okay," he requested for cover, "Not a problem. I can only give you guys a few minutes. Make it count, otherwise a shit storm is gonna happen," he relayed back.

"Roger," Koji responded and resumed the job at hand. As they passed a bookstore that sold occult books and dark magic artifacts they hid in the shadows and in the main square of Mahogany Row Aurors were patrolling, numbering seven in their line of sight, "Shit," Wilfredo cursed.

"We'll be severely outnumbered if we head out there now," he added to the group and soon, shots were fired in the distance and they saw several of the Aurors leaving in a hurry to check it out.

The group nodded and prepared to move and right there to their horror he black-hood group was already there and now they were across from one another preparing to fire off magical and/or mystical blasts or bullets and the five mystics with the corrupted official were looking around for an alternative route to dump the guy off to. Then came some of the remaining Aurors to the scene, "Hands up and drop the man and your weapons! Now!"

They repeated it when both sides didn't respond and then, "Okay," Wilfredo and Koji grabbed the bound up man by the arms and legs and threw him to the Aurors, "You can have him!"

Then the mystics made a run for it as the official still bound and tied up was caught only just by two Aurors while the others chased them while other surrounded the black hooded members of the WWAEI. Then the black hooded men started to fire their rounds, causing pandemonium around them and realized their shields won't stop a bullet round from an assault rifle.

Meanwhile the mystics were running down an alleyway that led away from Mahogany Row but still within the commercial area of the wizarding ward. As the five continued their way through the alleys of the ward they found themselves in a small maze of wizarding shops, as well as occult shops. Once near the end of the ward they see there a wall so they go through the back door of a shop and ran through the storage room and then to the store proper with their masks now which then got a woman yelling, "IT'S THEM! THE HACKERS!"

Wilfredo cursed as he led his group through the security Aurors by pushing one aside as did the others and he grabbed one's arm, held it and took his wand and pushed him aside. Once outside of the clothing/tailoring shop they were in the northwest edge of the square, "Okay Wil, we need to get back to the van now," Cecilia told him.

He nodded and as he used the stolen wand to channel his energy to blow back the Aurors with one swipe of his arm and did so to clear a path through the square. They return to the alley where they came in and Wilfredo threw the wand and ran behind his friends. They see their van and Wilfredo got in the driver's seat and started the engine and pulled into reverse and now drove off fast and once on the main streets they melded into the traffic and disappeared. However Alastair watched the whole thing from above with his friends, "We got to get to them. They're not heading for the hotel," he told James.

"I suspected as much. What we need to do is to really find out what they are after. I know you have an idea but it's not the whole picture," he responded and Alastair nodded, but secretly he has a vault of evidence to use against them if they make a run for it or resist. He was ready for either development.

MEANWHILE

Shinji was walking with the L115A3 as he fired several shots from his position to get the attention of the Aurors. He was now walking calmly with the assault rifle in its case that is packed in a case that looks like a larger than normal suitcase. He walked down an alleyway and then came across two wizards, in this case James Parker and Jane Underwood, "Uh…hi there. I'm just…"

But the two interrupted him, "We know what you've done today. You and your friends," he told Shinji and Jane held out her wand ready to erase his memory, "This is our most merciful decision. We'll wipe your memory of knowing of our existence."

Shinji just looked at the two, "Well I know of mystics already so I don't see the point of your decision," he said calmly and the two were stumped, "Are you serious? This no joke," James shouted and Shinji shushed him.

"Listen, the assets of the WWAEI are nearby and will look for accomplices who fucked them over today. Aka, my friends and I," Shinji spoke up. He then heard noise, which fired, up his nerves, "I have to go now," but James blocked his way.

"I'm sorry but we can't let you," he told him, "Stand aside," Shinji repeated, "No," "Stand aside," "No!"

Jane then uttered the body-binding curse, "Petrificus Totalus," and he fell back with his body still as a statue. He struggled to free his limbs against itself but did force out a shout, "Let…me…g-go," he shouted and Jane was thrown back a bit, "Bloody hell! You can speak still?"

Shinji glared at them, "And other things," he forced and surprisingly his AT Field was still active and it pushed the two magi back that shocked them and Shinji than feels his body loosening up and slowly moving his arms and legs. He painstakingly got up and stood up on shaky legs, "Later you two," he grabbed his suitcase and walked out of there and then bolted into a shaky run.

James got up and held Jane, "Are you all right," he asked whom she nodded, "Come. We better warn the others, these Muggles and mystics won't come quietly," he and she ran out of there and elsewhere it was the same story.

[TRAFALGAR SQUARE, 1:45PM]

Kevin arrived as did Eda and on the dot, or rather thirty seconds too soon they see the van from the mystics, "Okay Kevin! Time to play keep away from the magi," she radioed him, "I love that game. Let's hope they can bring something to the dance. Over."

Eda smirked as she started her car and proceeded to drive on Charing Cross and made her away around the roundabout with Kevin behind her. The van came into view and the door slid open, "Eda! Here," it was Fatma who handed the documents to her.

The Aurors chased the mystics to now seeing their vehicles down in the streets below, "Curse them! In Muggle London no less," one of the Aurors stated all exasperated.

"Focus! We need to apprehend them immediately," the leader told him, meanwhile James's friends Anthony, William, Henriette and Hanford were just literally a block behind them and can see the vehicles and Henriette through her spyglass sees the exchange, "I can see the van handing a woman in one of the cars an envelope of documents. Looks like Alastair is right," she told the guys.

"And perfect reason to chase them and…" but before William finished they heard the roar of the engines as the two fast cars bolted out of the area at high speed, "Blimey! What are they doing?"

Anthony looked around and can see Aurors ahead of them, "Looks like we're not the only ones interested in these Muggles and mystics," he told them and can see the Aurors turn into a smoky form that are invisible to the general public but not to their intended targets.

"We better move it now! Our brooms quick," he patted Hanford's back and he rushed after him as well. Then they rode on their brooms and chased after the Aurors chasing the cars. Being so close to London's traffic and avoiding the security cameras below as Henriette told them about, they're on edge on what's going to happen next. And next thing before they knew it Kevin and Eda's cars headed east and west respectively separated both groups of magi chasing after them. The sharp turn knocked down two Aurors for both drivers, but the rest were still in hot pursuit. In the meantime, the others were having their own problems…

MEANWHILE,

As the former pilots are leaving Mahogany Row near Piccadilly Circus Alastair and his friends are hot on their tails, Dante was standing on top of a building nearby relaying information below to Scarlett and listening to the chatter from Eda and Kevin as they are now heading for the A40, "Scarlett, we may need your plan of action in the next half hour, over."

"No problem there handsome. We're using DML and a SQL exploit to manipulate the data from the Department of New Technology in case they are in our backdoor. However since you are out on the ground I suggest your front and backsides just in case the WWAEI are literally inside the law enforcement squads from both the wizarding side and the city itself," she relayed to him.

He sighed and looked through his binoculars, "Affirmative, ready your part of the plan in the next 26 minutes. I'll be mobile so I'll probably be on top of you," he told her, "Over and out."

Dante moved and headed through the rooftop access for downstairs. He then headed for the next designated place to set up a mobile hub for himself in Trafalgar Square to monitor the actions of his team as well as keeping track of WWAEI.

MEANWHILE, ON THE A4202 AND THE A501

Eda and Kevin took out more of the WWAEI members with their maneuvers around the ring road around the city in opposite directions with Eda to the east and Kevin to the west. This was their method of pushing the rogue esoteric practitioners until they broke concentration in the high-speed pursuit and thanks to the runes in and around their cars; magical blasts to de-stabilize their vehicles were nullified. However what they didn't know were the magi who are also following them since Trafalgar Square and invisible to the naked eye. Gwen in Kevin's car however noticed this, "We're being followed still."

"What? How? I just took out the last of the rogues with my expert driving," he said as he swerved in traffic and still the magi on brooms kept at it, "Eda! How are you at your end," he radioed, "In fucking trouble! I'm being pursued as we speak by other magi! We'll meet at the rendezvous point in a short while and hopefully we'll take them out simultaneously. Over."

Kevin listened and looked at the rearview mirror, "Roger that! Let's give them a taste of what we call racing," he shifted and sped on like a bat out of hell. Gwen opened her window and looked out at the magi, she puts up a shield in case of attacks, "Hope that holds," she told him.

"Why aren't you attacking them, Gwen? We're seriously gonna get fucked if they take out the engine," he told her, "It's because the shield is also gonna give you more acceleration," she told him this as the shield meshed with the car, "Now punch it!"

"You got it babe," he told her as he then shifted into fourth and sped on with the magi still in pursuit. William, Michael, Anthony, Vicente, and Henriette were beyond pissed and seeing the shield really made them steam under their collars, "If we have to blast through the shield then fine with me," William shouted Reducto and Bombarda as did his friends.

Kevin and Gwen however felt the impacts strongly even as the shield held up, "Looks like we're gonna get rocked off the road if they keep up, but we gotta meet Eda at the rendezvous point," he shifted gears again and off they went.

Henriette noticed this and landed, "What are you doing," William shouted, "I have a hunch. Meet you at the warf soon," she shouted out and Apparated away and the guys had no choice but to continue their pursuit of the American muscle car.

Meanwhile Eda was in trouble as she struggled to outpace the magi on their brooms, though she was doing fine before when doing corners. Hanford, Basilio and Rachel were struggling with her speed, "Bugger! She's going to ram us into a building if we continue at this rate," Rachel yelled out.

"I have an idea," Basilio called out and then the three flew up and then dived and now flying backwards in front of Eda with Hanford flying forward to coordinate their maneuver, "Shit," Eda cursed.

Then Rachel fired a hex at the car but to the three's surprise the car didn't look affected and Basilio uttered, "Revelio," and the runes on the car shown like LED lights, "How the hell does a Muggle know magic repelling runes," Rachel shouted.

"I don't know but we better fly up now," Hanford yelled and the two flew up in time to avoid a truck, and since their cloaks can only reveal themselves to their intended target Eda noticed this while the truck driver was none the wiser.

Eda drove on and made her way towards the North Circular with the three looking onward, "I feel this is far bigger than we have anticipated. Let's push on and relay this to Alastair when we are near downtown again," Basilio told the two who nodded and flew off.

The two drivers then met at the north end of the city and proceeded to drive southward, straight as the crow flies for the docks and back in downtown the former pilots have their own troubles while going to meet he mystics and their van…

BACK IN PICCADILLY CIRCUS

Shinji just left two magi behind and now exiting Piccadilly Circus and tried to radio Asuka and Dante, "Anyone! Come in," and he got no response, 'Where can they be?'

Meanwhile Asuka was still near Mahogany Row after being trapped several times to escape the perimeter but kept getting caught to fight off Aurors and with her guns dismantled after they saw her bullets can pierce their protections charms, they got rid of that problem off the bat. So she resorted to leave the area far from Shinji and Dante who were still within the vicinity.

She was now far from Aurors whom she left bloodied, bruised, and semi-conscious she also suffered some minor burns on her arms and legs, but thanks to her dark clothes, not that noticeable. But with her limping as the remnants of the body petrification curse were wearing off she now tried to radio Dante, "Dante come in! Come in!"

"This is Dante. What's going on? You've been out of contact for the past 35 minutes," he relayed, "I've been on my own since we separated from Mahogany Row. Where are you? I'll come over to your position once I find Shinji. Over."

"I'm currently in Trafalgar Square overlooking the situation, currently Wilfredo and the others are having a field day with Aurors as we speak and Eda along with Kevin are having a drive-by with the magi in the North Circular. They should be heading back here as soon as possible. Over."

She sighed and looked around, "I'll head over once I find Shinji. Where is he," she asked, "He's just a few blocks west of your position. Make haste and get out of there, the Aurors are gaining fast and Scarlett is ready on her end. Over."

"Got it, over and out," she relayed and puts her walkie-talkie back on her belt and walked away from the area and then got an update, "Eda and Kevin are heading for the A10 in approximately 30 minutes! I repeat 30 minutes! Everyone whose operations have concluded should leave the area and head for West London. Over."

Asuka, Shinji and the mystics listened. However, unknown to them so did Alastair and an unknown passenger in his motorbike, "Looks like the stampede is winding down. Let's make haste and greet the other two guests," he revved up the bike and headed for East London.

MEANWHILE IN TRAFALGAR SQUARE

Dante was taking down his equipment from the vacant office space and puts on his coat before heading out. But then the door was blasted open and six Aurors and the corrupt official the mystics threw to them was there, red in the face, steaming, "You…you are responsible for this mess! Aren't you?"

Dante turned around with his douffle bag's strap on his shoulder, "Indeed I am. We have a common enemy in the vein of the WWAEI. Please, allow me to leave so we can finish taking out their subordinates," but the Aurors held up their wands.

"You broke our law in theft and infiltrating our ministry and you expect us to not Obliviate you? No, you and your cohorts would be imprisoned right now starting with you," he shouted and motioned his men to apprehend Dante.

The former pilot sighed and held up his hand, "I really hate to do this but," he used his fingers to levitate their wands and flew them to his feet and then opened his hand, "I have no choice," he added and pushed them all back to the walls with his AT Field.

The Aurors and official were stunned and now stuck to the wall by an invisible force. The felt this was not magic or even mystical energy, this was something else, "A telekinetic? What in the…" the official struggled to get free and none of them can summon back their wands.

Dante walked calmly up to them and spoke, "The field should dissipate once I'm two blocks away from here. I'll join the others while you lot remain here to think on your crimes," he said coolly and walked out the door and gently closing it. Dante then rushed for the lift and pressed the downward button. He waited for a few moments and it arrived. He relaxed a bit more as he felt the lift moving downward.

As he left the building, back near Piccadilly Circus Asuka and Shinji meet up near Regent St and unknown to them James and Jane are following closely behind.

MEANWHILE IN ST. JAMES SQUARE

The mystics were radioing Dante; "We're in St. James Square hiding from the Aurors for the moment. Where are you," Fatma spoke, "Leaving Trafalgar Square and heading for the river bank. Radio Shinji and Asuka to meet you there. This is Dante over and out."

Then contact ceased and Delilah was on alert, "Two are coming…no, six in all. Set up a perimeter," she got out of the car and headed for the small park in the trees. Her friends followed in a tight circle and then they see the Aurors coming. Thankfully not a lot were around due to the weather.

"On behalf of the Ministry of Magic, we hereby arrest you lot on the ground of espionage and letting Muggles know of our existence," it was Alastair, which was no surprise to them.

"Should've known you would be behind this," Delilah called out as one of the Aurors incanted a spell to make sure no one sees them or hears them, "On the other, you lot are about to have a delivery on juicy information."

"We know," Alastair interrupted her, "We know about your escapades and agendas, and while good hearted, not without consequence. We need to take you in for questioning."

Delilah stepped forward, "Foolish of you to corner us as mere humans. And your Aurors are ill-prepared for what's to come," but he was undeterred, "It matters not. We'll have both of your groups behind bars."

Wilfredo, Cecilia, Fatma and Koji fought with several Aurors in a mixture of their styles between mystical and magical energies with herself taking on Alastair. Wilfredo was nullifying the effects of spells and hexes at close range with one Auror mixing his aura with his skills in empty-handed Eskrima, grappled the wand out of the Auror's hand and took him out. Fatma, Cecilia and Koji followed suit with their kills in Krav Maga, Capoeira and Ju-Jitsu with Fatma particularly savage about taking down the Auror, Cecilia using her unpredictable moves to catch the wizards off guard and Koji using efficient moves of take downs and punches along with grappling incapacitated two Aurors

Delilah was facing Alastair where both exchanged mystical and magical blasts and it was apparent that Alastair was extremely skilled to the point of her now on the defensive. Delilah then tried to summon a Golem out of a seal she formed with the dirt below her and it was summoned and she ordered it to take him on, but he made short work of the animated stone soldier and disintegrated it. Delilah then charged forward with dark mystical energy and he puts up a shield, "You are quite skilled, but I was trained to take on even the more ferociously self-righteous mystics," he told her off with a sneer.

Delilah was getting quite cross with him and tried to push through the shield but the mana-enriched charges burnt the ground below them and Alastair held his ground, "You are strong. Talented and driven, but," he pushed her back, "Not good enough!"

She was launched back and landed hard, "Damn it! Everyone hold your ground until the three arrive," she yelled at her four friends who are finishing up handling the Aurors and she got up, "We will not go down quietly!"

Alastair sneered at her, and raised his wand until he was levitated upward and his wand was taken out of his hand. Dante appeared from the north side of the park along with Asuka and Shinji who held their 1911 Colts armed and ready, "Everyone! Back to the van now," Asuka ordered.

The mystics hurried to the van following the pilots. Dante let Alastair go but then heard someone shouting, "Expelliarmus," and the wand he confiscated from the blonde wizard was discarded from his hand. This surprised him and saw James and Jane.

"Hold it right there," he shouted as he and Jane held their wands out and Wilfredo used his aura to negate the spells they were firing, which were Stupefy, Reducto, Petrificus Totalus, Rictumsempra, and Incendio. But all where negated by Wilfredo, which frustrated them. As the van drove off in a hurry Alastair rushed James and Jane to his motorbike, "We have other guests to greet soon. Follow me," he told the two.

"Who," Jane asked, "Eda and another bloke driving an American car according to Henriette who relayed the message to me via the palantir."

James and Jane where then given brooms to meet her at the riverfront near where the driver will exit the expressway to distract any further Aurors and the magi following them. Alastair has another thought on his mind, 'Eda…I see you now as a mare running alongside an unruly dragon. Pity, I have no choice but to stop your progress and force you to come to your senses. There are always consequences for your decisions.'

He started his motorcycle, revved the engines, puts on his vintage goggles for the job and drove off to find Eda.

In the van they made their way to the riverfront, "That's not where we're supposed to go! Turn around," Dante told Wilfredo, "If those magi are after the others heading there we need to put up a solid defense so they can get away and Scarlett's diversion can work! Now bugger off!"

He shifted and drove as fast as he can and the transit van sped off.

HALF AN HOUR LATER, HACKNEY

Eda and Kevin met finally and now are driving down south heading for the riverfront and realized in their mirrors, the magi looked tired and beaten down by the handling of dodging and sudden stops where some hit the trucks or now avoiding buildings. The magi couldn't fly too high lest they risk too much exposure. The two drivers however were having a ball with this, "Where should we head to now," Eda radioed Kevin.

"Once we reach the Thames we meet up with Scarlett and pass on the goods to her. She'll then unleash her surprise and we'll drive off into London's traffic near downtown and disappear. Right now we're okay, we're just dragging cops now," Kevin told her and it was true, they also have cops chasing them since entering the North Circular and now back in the city, only a handful survived their driving.

"Oh just cops huh. Then again, since that LA race this isn't so bad," she quipped and she heard him laugh, "That was fun though I can go without the nearly getting killed by the two chicks," he said and then they both got another radio transmission.

"This is the command control. To all of you guys doing your thing, we have a heads up; Alastair is now on our tail. I repeat, Alastair is on our tail. Dante relayed this, as did the others. Those still in the field need to hurry up otherwise this will come back to bite us in the ass. This is command control over and out," Christine's voice rang out and Eda looked at Kevin in his car to her right.

She rolled down her window, as did he, "Ready for the final sprint? Last one to the Thames has to buy dinner," she floored it after shifting to third and past Kevin, "You're on!"

He then shifted gears and caught up with Eda, "Gwen. Sensing any magical people our way," he asked and she closed her eyes to concentrate on the mana field, "The magi are still chasing us but are exhausted and…a few are waiting for us near the riverfront but not close to our finish line, yet."

He listened and dodged cars, as did Eda alongside him, "Sounds like that race in LA or even that time we chased DNAliens across Bellwood and La Soledad. But this far more fun," he grinned.

As they drove in the distance south of their current position the magi behind them were wearing out with the chasing, "God damn it! Why won't they just cease and desist," Michael shouted while Basilio was alongside him, "I suspect Alastair is near us right now," he replied.

As they chased them they noticed cops still chasing the drivers, "Muggle law enforcement are more or less effective as we are," then they heard another crash below them, "And those two won't slow down," Hanford pointed out, "I'm sure Alastair will stop them soon enough," he added.

They followed the drives from the A10 to the streets southward for the River Thames and dodging traffic, scrapping the paint off their cars when cutting it close and Kevin cursing a storm about repainting his 'baby' while Eda just wanted to end this race. She didn't want to admit it but she was getting tired. Her stamina wasn't as great as Kevin's which he did notice when he she nearly crashed, "Eda are you all right," he radioed her.

"Hanging in there," she replied, "Don't worry about me," she added as their cars continued onward, "Okay. Just a bit longer, we're almost there. I can see the river from here," he radioed her.

"Roger," she radioed back and the magi above can see the cars below driving quickly and dodging traffic below for more but then they can feel their wands vibrating slightly.

Rachel on her broom raised her wand and about this time it started to rain again, "Everyone I think we better pull back," she stopped flying, as did the others, "Why," William shouted.

"Because Alastair will no doubt, stop them shortly! Didn't you pay attention to your wand at all," she asked and the others looked at her who nodded, "And no doubt Henriette is close by to where every they are right now."

"What," William shouted and flew for the cars, "WAIT," she yelled and then looked to Hanford and Michael, "Follow him, we'll survey the area and message you by firing sparks in the sky when Aurors are coming," she relayed and the guys flew after William while she and the others were now on watch duty.

Alastair on his end parked his motorcycle in an alleyway, listening for a sign of an American muscle car and a Mitsubishi EVO 8. Waiting for a few minutes allowed him to think for some time on what just occurred today. Not only did Aurors failed to apprehend these people on first sight but also had trouble on taking them in. Not to mention able to infiltrate the ministry. He has pages and notes based on reports of anonymous individuals attempting to target the ministry and when the algorithm was downloaded he confirmed it. However, before she ponders more on the subject he finally hears them and with his vantage point of seeing the Thames close he'll stop them here.

Eda and Kevin were close and soon Scarlett, however how she'll spring her surprise largely depends on timing. They ceased radio conversations for the past few minutes and with the Thames in sight they were hopeful they could pull this off without more surprises. Coming in from the west side, the mystics along with the pilots were coming in to escort them to their final destination. All pieces were in place for a final confrontation between the Aurors, the young magi, Alastair, Kevin's group, the mystics along with the pilots, and last but not least, the WWAEI. A collision of powers and motivations was now imminent and nothing short of a miracle can prevent this.

Alastair sees Eda's car and uttered a spell to disable the brakes and cluch while thinking, 'Forgive me,' and then the car started to sound funny. In the car Eda was unable to brake and tried to put on the brakes, but no avail. She was going to crash and Kevin in his car can see it, "Eda hang in there," he radioed her, shouting in a panic.

"Can't! I'm gonna spin out," he heard her voice, panicking on her end and he sees the EVO swerving to the left and then to the right before hitting a lamppost hard. Eda inside felt the impact but thankful the airbags deployed, but she was reeling. Disorientated and struggling to get her bearings for a few moments.

Kevin stopped next to her car and rushed to get her out. He tried to open the door but it was stuck, so he really tried and with relative ease for him he pried it open and threw the door down. He gently got her out, "Easy, easy," he told her.

She struggled to get her balance but then sees Alastair right in front her, pointing his wand, "I'm deeply regretful my dear, but this is for the best to ensure you're not in harm's way."

Gwen rushed to them and Kevin handed her Eda and he touched the steel lamppost, "Yeah, you're about to meet a steel fist and scythe coming your way, cocksucker," he threatened.

Alastair grinned and readied himself. Then the van the mystics used arrived to get them out of here, but then the magi came as well as the WWAEI members the mystics got the drop on and finally the Aurors came with the corrupted official, "Freeze! All of you," he said.

The Aurors then set up a shield around the street so Muggles can't see inside and silenced their activity. But all hell broke loose with everyone fighting each other. The Aurors were fighting the magi who were shocked they turned coat on them while the WWAEI were fighting the mystics. Spells and esoteric blasts were everywhere that damaged the pavement the cars' windows and the mystic musicians were holding them off with their mystic shields. Henriette who came through the shield via a spell was now defending her friends and fighting the Aurors. But then she saw the mystics coming to them and thought they were in a rage so she attacked Fatma who then got upset. As the two dueled, the pilots were taking out several WWAEI members with extreme precision but realized they were of equal skill so there was difficulty in putting them down. Knife combat was more missed strikes and blows countered with grappling moves.

Henriette who puts up her shield sees Fatma charging for an Aurora and out of instinct she fired at Fatma who fell to her side. Dante saw this but couldn't reach her. The Auror attacked her and then Koji used his staff to deflect it and sent the Auror flying and impacted the ground hard. Fatma got up and went to Henriette and with a wave of her hand, disintegrated the shield. The two women eyed each other and the witch's friends saw as a mystic and mage dueled. Henriette was having trouble subduing Fatma who seemed to be reading her movements and spells when incanted or silently so. However, Fatma was reading the waves of Henriette's aura and was able to deflect the spells and hexes conjured by the witch. The witch herself was beside herself in defending herself against the elegant moves Fatma was putting on in deflection, as if a form of dance but as she moved closer, she became more aggressive and Henriette was moving backward.

Wilfredo then ran after William who saw Henriette in danger. William was about to grab Fatma from behind before Wilfredo tackled him to the ground. William threw him off and he landed on his feet. William got up and he charged at Wilfredo and between them was a fierce hand-to-hand combat where the more Wilfredo fought, he noticed their auras changed around them and it got more and more intense. In fact, William started to take it seriously while Wilfredo wanted to finish it as soon as possible.

As Koji found with seven at once, he felt something new, a powerful, foreboding aura behind him, observing. Indeed, a man with a scar on his bottom lip, a scar on his right eyebrow and eyes so fiery hazel they looked unnatural. His hair a tone of copper auburn that matched his handlebar mustache, and he remained stoic in his attire that appeared to be a black robe covering black breeches, boots and a white shirt and him not minding the cold, wet weather. Koji dispatched members of the rogue group and finds himself face to face with this new face. He prepared himself and used his staff to attack the stranger, trying to neutralize the man's aura. But to his surprise his techniques were not working, even throwing sutras at him to seal his power, which he waved his wand to disintegrate them.

The two then fought before the stranger struck Koji in the head. Kevin on his end noticed his, "Nice try young man," and then was struck by a grenade launched by the Osmosian, "Fuck this! Everyone! Let's get out of here!"

The mystics and pilots returned to the van. Gwen puts up a shield around the car as Kevin got back in the car. The two automobiles rammed through the shield and drove off. His magi friends chasing the van, then followed Alastair on his motorbike, but after a few minutes, they lost sight of it along with the muscle car. Then out of nowhere, they caught sight of the van. Alastair stopped and warned the magi not to go after it but too late as he then sees it attacked by his friends and the van kept going until it drove into the Thames. As the magi realized it was a ruse and Alastair couldn't help but laugh, "I gotta admit! They are real talented bastards!"

Then he turned serious and spoke again, "Now listen up. We will find them and then observe their movements. Most likely we'll find them by nightfall. Now let's head for Mahogany Row and clean up the mess left in our wake," he revved his bike up again and rode off.

His friends took to their brooms and

Then back at the site the WWAEI left the remaining Aurors with the corrupted official, "You incompetent fools, you let them get away," but then he was struck with the body binding curse from the stranger Koji took down earlier who hid amongst the chaos. He walked to the Aurors in question, "You played your parts beautifully."

"Sir, what shall we do with the refuse," one of the Aurors looked contemptibly at their now former official, "Send him back to the ministry. No doubt the kids will deliver the damning evidence against him shortly and lay low until the ministry calms down their search. But, my attention is on you all now."

The lineup of seven Aurors standing in attention, now serving their new leader, "We shall assist the WWAEI and the dark wizard Slawomir and his group to achieve our ends. But I have grand plans for us, with a future base in Holland. Will you follow me so we can achieve our goal?"

"Sir," they said in unison and Roland nodded as he paced in front of them, examining the young men, eager to learn and serve. He also thought about Alastair who he has seen in the fight, 'We shall meet again, and next time, when you're less distracted,' he thought about it with concealed anticipation.

[PEPPERS AND SPICE, ISLINGTON, 6:10PM]

The chase drained everyone, so the group convened at a Caribbean take out joint in Wilfredo's British relatives' neighborhood. Adam was there as well to join them and listen to Wilfredo explain to him what happened, "Bloody hell. You lot, are really adrenaline junkies after all. Ernesto hinted as much last time he was here," he said.

Wilfredo looked at him as he swallowed some greens with red beans and rice, "Yeah he told me about a real globe trekking job for the Plumbers before heading out for his training. Tell me have you heard anything from him," he asked, but Adam nodded a no, "Afraid not. But perhaps we'll hear from him this year. I'm sure the first year leaves little opportunity for them to really contact loved ones."

Wilfredo nodded in agreement, meanwhile Shinji along with Asuka and Dante were discussing the past few hours, "Well this was a bigger mess than I anticipated," Dante said as he drank his fizzy drink, "However, a success as far as I'm concerned."

"It is," Shinji now perplexed asked but Asuka agreed, "It's true. We now know a bit more about Eda's friend and his own crew of magi and magical law enforcers. However with the bit we delivered to them it should compensate for the theft of their algorithm. Though Dante here would say, borrowing it and returning it. Which by the way, how is it incorporating said algorithm to our network," Asuka asked him.

As Dante spoke about incorporating the algorithm into their network to track down the WWAEI next time, Fatma, Delilah, Cecilia and Koji were discussing the implications of the first step since Monday, "That theft will no doubt come back to haunt and we must bear the consequences," Koji said as he ate his rice with beans, "It was a naïve move if we assumed to repeat actions of the past and expect no one to keep an eye on us."

Fatma looked at him, "Dante was anxious to see if anyone would peek inside our activities. He knew this was not completely foolproof. A gamble and we might end up dead or we actually win this," she told him.

Cecilia who was eating braised chicken with her rice and peas was far from convinced, "We might win but we still committed the theft and hack. Even if we do end up thwarting attacks we're going to get punished for that one criminal act," "Even if it was for a good cause?"

Fatma asked but then Delilah spoke, "Not so. Even if we will end up saving lives, we still have to answer for our crimes. Resisting arrest in the hands of the Aurors and hacking the ministry, as well as borrowing without asking their algorithm that enables them to hide on our Internet. So we still have to answer for those, while anticipating punishment. And the government here can try us in absentee and if that happens, we can't enter the UK again without risking a round-up by them."

The mystics sighed collectively, "I feel this will haunt us right up to the final confrontation, where ever that is," Wilfredo spoke, "Which can be anywhere and even the Aurors here won't have jurisdiction everywhere," he added.

"Not to mention the Russian mystics Yuri represents, who spoke with Asuka and Eda a few days ago and well, we might have allies after all," Cecilia added as well then they relaxed a bit and continued eating.

Unknown to them, Alastair is watching them from a distance and kept a close eye on Eda as well, knowing he would have to talk to her directly tomorrow. If anything would follow, this would be an interesting conversation…

FRIDAY

[THE STRAND PALACE HOTEL, 8:23AM]

Eda was just finishing her stint in the gym and even after yesterday's debacle, they felt they would come up with a plan to sate the anger of the magi while also doing good in taking down the rogue esoteric group. According to Dante and Scarlett, they should pinpoint where they would strike now due to being able to track them in the esoteric Internet now. She drank her water and headed out of the gym and then sees a courier at the front desk where the receptionist motioned to her for the man to look, "Are you Ms. Kramer?"

The courier asked, "Yes I am," she said and he approached her, "Mr. Rathbone would like to request an audience with you at The Tea House. Do you accept the offer," he relayed the information and waited for her response.

She felt petrified, like if she would be arrested on the spot. But for the sake of propriety and not let this get the best of her, after risking her life behind he wheel, "I accept the offer," she replied politely, "When will he expect me to arrive?"

The courier then spoke, "He would like it if you should arrive by around 10:15am. Arrive promptly as he stressed," he said and she got the picture, "I got it, thank you."

The courier bowed and then left leaving Eda standing there to consider what might be the outcome of this. But rather than be anxious on the unknowns, she headed for the elevator for upstairs to her room and get ready to meet him.

[THE TEA HOUSE, 10:15AM]

Alastair was sipping some green tea with lavender. For this he dressed in an olive green three-piece suit with black shoes with a pocket watch chain attached to his waistcoat to his blazer's pocket. His hair was combed nicely with a right side parting. While sitting next to the window, he was looking out for Eda and in a few moments she was within sight. She wore a blouse with black leggings, a navy blue turtle neck sweater, and her dark brown hair brushed so it can pass her shoulders slightly and held her bag that contained her laptop and notebook. She looked professional but also had a bit of a casual flair with their coat unbuttoned that flowed nicely with her gait.

She entered the establishment and once inside she found the drinking area to have tea and other treats. She noticed the magi there and they immediately noticed her, "Well, well. You decided to show up," Rachel said with her arms crossed and spoke with a haughty tone.

"I have. Now…" Eda looked at Alastair who stood up, "Let's talk, sir," she went to his table and as she sat down, so did he. He took the liberty of ordering a pot of tea enough for two people. The magi looked on in glances as they talked amongst themselves.

Eda took a sip and sets the cup on its saucer, "Now then. I suppose I owe you an explanation for my actions yesterday," she said calmly, "Indeed you do. And you must know of possible consequences that will follow," Alastair wasted no time in laying down the reality of the situation.

She nodded, "The mystics discussed this while we caught our breath in Islington, they also conveyed this reality when we returned to our hotel. Mohammad then was told about this and he knew already. But," she took another sip of her tea, "He also insisted that we all take whatever sort of responsibility that will come our way. He's disappointed to say the least," she said.

He said nothing and just listened to her, "You sure have a way with words. Even when we were children, that was your strength," he waxed nostalgically for a moment but then returned to the matter at hand.

He took another sip of his tea before resuming, "Now then. I won't arrest you. Your actions were misguided, a serious offense. But from what I briefly encountered fighting the WWAEI, I can see we do share a common enemy but different methods on tackling them. So I wish to make an offer," he ultimately revealed.

"What sort of offer," she asked and Alastair sets his cup on the saucer, "I wish for both of our groups to cooperate with one another. And no, not the Aurors directly," he motioned to his magi friends and new colleagues around him at their tables, "My friends here. We work together and I take charge alongside your head of operations regarding the infiltration, Dante is it? He seems to be the key strategist with the mind of a soldier and chess player. And once we succeed, I will make sure your punishment is not so severe and your records with my people are expunged."

He finally finished laying out his terms and he leaned in closer but enough to make a point, "Do we have a deal?"

She knew this was a great deal upon hearing it. However she felt there was something, a catch unsaid, "What do you want out of this," she asked calmly but wary of his answer, "I want what is ours."

"The algorithm Dante stole and copied into our mobile network huh," she asked, "You are correct, miss. I want him to relinquish his copy as soon as this mess is resolved. Which I have to ask, has he made any headway into the WWAEI's movements? Future spots to spread their ideologies and terror?"

Eda fingered her teacup, "Well…he said he made a partial list. He's still trying to gain access while also remaining invisible on their sights. But that said, he's already got a few locations set up for possible landings: Athens, Tangier and Warsaw."

Alastair looked at her somewhat pleased and surprised, "Impressive, though his manner of humiliating the Aurors was a bit underhanded. Okay, we have three locations and possible others for later. With that said, since you agreed to my terms, when should you relay these details to your colleagues," he asked.

Eda just looked at him as he spoke, "After final rehearsals more or less," she stated simply as she finished her cup of tea, "With that settled, let's relax until we finish our pot of tea. Agreed," she requested in a civil manner.

He relaxed and held the pot to pour tea for her, "Sure. Of course," he stated and the two drank their tea in silence, a reunion Eda wanted to be on better ground, not like this. But, as with things since joining Les Musiciens, her previous truths on esoteric matters and what skeletons people can truly have in their closets, has opened up her mind and made her more open to new possibilities. However, she's still wary as to not lose her way.

The magi in question were talking amongst themselves with occasional glances to the two and then after a few more minutes of silence between them Eda finishes up and places her part of the bill for Alastair, "Hope to see you tomorrow night," but just as she gets up, he held her hand, "Here," he handed her a grey pouch of what sounded like coins.

"This should cover the cost of what I've done to your automobile," he stated and she took the bag to open, "But…these are gold coins," she pointed it out with confusion.

He smiled, "I know your friend has taken it to repair. But trust me, have it seen by the man at the address in the bag and you'll have it back in 24 hours. I promise," he explained and she just looked at him, trying to sense deceit. But, she felt none and only said, "I'll give it a try."

She then walked out of the teahouse and opened her umbrella to walk back to her hotel in the rain. Alastair kept an eye on her until she was out of sight. He then heard the chair pulled and sees James, "So, do you think we can trust her or her group?"

Alastair looked at him and fingered his teacup, "To be honest her actions and her friends' actions yesterday told me enough. Stubborn people, as they will prove to be, they are honest in intent. So for now," he picked up his teacup to drink, "I will."

James nodded and headed back to his table where Jane was, "So? What did he say," she asked and he sighed, "He trusts them and attempts to play this new game to his advantage. And as far as I can see, this is going to be one hell of a mess," he responded and she nodded in agreement.

SATURDAY

[CADOGAN HALL, CHELSEA/BELGRAVIA, 7:15PM]

Les Musiciens du Monde was now performing at the concert hall that launched their European presence for years now. Mohammad was currently conducting the second piece by Henry Purcell after finishing "The Princess of Persia", Z 577, but incidental music only. Now, it's "The Virtuous Wife", Z 611 also incidental music; music without vocal accompaniment from the complete vocal works, serving as transitional music from one scene or act to another. In the audience, Peter and Catherine were in the first row with some of the academy's professors and other prominent guests from the artistic society of London. The deans of the Royal Academy of Music was also a patron of the orchestra after seeing them perform since their first visit to the UK, so all in all, the orchestra truly is funded by the international cultural society. But students can still attend for free and if no room left, can stream it online.

In the balcony, Alastair and his family where there to see if this group can truly perform music, and much to their pleasant surprise, the group who infiltrated the ministry and had a devastating waltz all over London was able to carry a concert but also gain this attention online and in the audience. Mohammad's style of directing was to show they are indeed as talented as their fans say. For the next fifteen minutes their second Purcell piece was done. Then came another few minutes of intermission where they prepare for their next two pieces.

Adam, Alastair's brother stood up to stretch, "Well that was a good opener. What's next," he asked his mother, "Up next is Marc-Antoine Charpentier and his piece Te Deum. I've heard it is on of their highest rated videos and concerts since their founding," she said with a smile and he nodded and sat back down.

Alastair shifted in his seat and whispered to his father, "Nice to see my old friend in the crowd, despite us making an agreement regarding their infiltration of the ministry," he said and his father held his cane in a gentlemanly fashion.

He sighed and responded to his son, "Well, when it comes to matters such as this, it is best to make sure you know what cards to play and which to discard. As for them, they will prove useful. As a piece of advice, make sure you apply your other training across the door to your situation now. So we may finish this efficiently and discreetly. We don't want another show in another major city as what happened two days ago."

Alastair nodded and shortly afterward, intermission was over and Mohammad held up his hands to conduct and just as Adam was about to relax, the thunderous opening of the strings, winds, brass, and drums rang throughout the hall. It was the signature piece LMM's fans want him to perform more often, but they don't. It's their style of performing and withholding classics until the time is right. It was amazing for the audience to see the quality online is about the same as is on stage. Les Musiciens are hard workers and near perfectionists and this time show a bit of maturity in performing that is balanced out with youthful exuberance. Cecilia, Fatma and Asuka who once sang in it didn't this time and performed with the rest of the orchestra and letting the Paris Conservatory sing the vocal portions. For nineteen minutes their music rang out and once over the applause was near deafening but then came the elegant slow pace by Jean-Philippe Rameau, "Entrée de Polymnie", the beginning music of Act IV from his opera, "Les Boréades".

This was the sort of music Alastair loved and has a strong appreciation for. He's glad to see it in a concert again and seeing Eda, in her concert dress, simple as it was, looking elegant, poised yet passionate. Actually in his mind the orchestra embodied it. After the last note was played the audience got up and applauded. Then to their surprise, Alberto got up with his theorbo and began to play a closing piece by John Dowland, in this case "Pavana for Lute" with his friends and colleagues packing up their equipment, and him playing this delightful tune for about seven minutes where the orchestra packed up, talked amongst themselves and Alberto played as the lights dim somewhat. This looked random but Zane suggested this, for the mood of the concert, where it ends on one musician, playing solo. And the audience sitting there, not knowing if this was a stunt or a new way to close out a performance, but as British people, they remained seated and politely waited for the end. Once it was the end, Alberto bowed and walked off the stage, the last one to leave and the audience clapped.

Outside the orchestra was packing the vans and joked about this nice, uneventful night. Then Peter called him, "Mohammad! Don't you want to attend the reception?"

"Can't. Dania arranged a dinner at the hotel where she and Yasmin will cook dinner for us and my students volunteering to prep," he said, "And get drunk on arak," Fatma said and some chuckled and cheered.

Peter smiled, "But at least on drink before you go and meet some of old professors and colleagues. Come on," he pushed and he relented, "Okay, okay," he said yes.

Then Wilfredo at one van called out, "We'll head back and get food ready. And we got drinks too. See you soon," then the vans closed their doors and headed off. Mohammad turned around to face him, "I guess I'm in."

Back inside the concert hall they head for a reception room where they are enjoying a wonderful night of socializing and relaxation. Mohammad met some people and thanked them for attending. He was proud he got admirable praise for his hard work. It has been a tough seven years. As he chatted with Peter about his new yearly schedule when he sees a familiar face in the crowd, "Why is he here? I though he would be in Prague right now," he asked Peter in a whisper.

Peter noticed and whispered back with a slight drop of happiness in his face, "Possibly to talk to you. But you shouldn't hold it against him," but the man did indeed notice them and shocked to see Mohammad actually attending.

Mohammad cursed himself and braced himself as did Peter, and both drank their champagne…

BACK AT THE STRAND HOTEL

The orchestra took over part of the kitchen so they can cook a Lebanese dinner, a tradition that started sometime around 2010 after returning from Lebanon. With Dania, Yasmin, Fatma, Ahmed and Mazhar doing the cooking the rest were doing prep work in the mean time, drinking some wine by passing the bottle around. It was all happiness and joking as they talk about their performance tonight. They were satisfied with it, but not sure if they loved it. It felt, a bit safe tonight as if ending a long project Mohammad started a while back. Even at the promise of new material, they feel he's also working out the kinks for right now as well. But in any case they also thought about the whole magi/mystic shit show they're in now; it was nerve racking and they brought it on themselves this time. No escape even if they wanted to.

Outside the hotel, several Aurors on assignment for Alastair were simply watching for any abnormal activity. As well as them learning they can't arrest them for one revelation, "Why does the Russian Esoteric Intelligence Service for the Order of the White Lotus protect these hooligans? It's not like they are important outside of their little niche area."

"Don't be hasty," the leader of the Aurors tonight told the young man, "From what we saw two days ago, our butts can land in hot water if we give them an opening to attack and defend. They defended just now with a certain Yuri Ivanovich and an unknown person who got evidence straight from the vault itself…We are in a new battlefield now."

"Yeah, one with no rules at all. Damn it all," he cursed, "And we should just watch now," he asked, unconvinced and frustrated and the leader said, "We have no choice now, but yes."

BACK AT CADOGAN HALL

Mohammad took a break from inside and after a brief talk with his old colleague; he decided to take out is rare cigarette and lit up. Peter joined him, "Well that went well," Peter said.

"Yeah…he seemed happy to see me. But why do I feel angry," he asked his old professor, "Well I guess that rejection still burns in you huh?"

He slightly glared at Peter but looked downward, "I just felt that after my final concert at the academy I felt relief but also a nagging question: Why did my friends get accepted while I wasn't? I feel it was my situation at the time. I don't know," he shrugged as he smoked.

Peter held his pipe to light up the tobacco, "I wish I knew, sorry," he said as Mohammad threw his cigarette to the ground and puts it out with his shoe, "I suppose I'll learn one day. I'm heading back to the hotel. Will you be all right?"

Peter smiled lightly and nodded, "I'll be all right. Go. Spend time with your orchestra. I'll look forward to your trip's video logs on Mozambique. Take care," he bid him a farewell.

Mohammad smiled and hailed a black cab; "Hope to see you in Poland then, all right? Good night," he called out as the cab drove away and then he was left alone. Then he was approached by a woman not his wife, "He's all right?"

He turned around, "Yes he is, Valeria Yurlova," the mature, tall, beautiful Russian woman, Mohammad's age smiled, "Good, he did well tonight. Too bad I missed my chance to talk to him. There are some things I wish to clear up for him."

"Regarding what," he asked and she decided to take him inside to discuss this with the man Mohammad spoke to a while ago. And when Peter will meet him again, in three months time, this will be indeed, a revelation…

[Music bit: Game of Thrones theme]

SUNDAY

[ST. PANCRAS INTERNATIONAL STATION, 10:23AM]

Asuka, Bernhard and Eda bid farewells to their French friends outside the station before heading off in Eda's car to head for Dover to grab the ferry for Hamburg. They're taking the Eurostar back to mainland Europe to take their time to clear their heads from the past few days and getting a reality check of how in over their heads they actually were.

Eda on the other hand was driving and was pleased it was repaired so fast, thanks strangely to Alastair. Asuka and Bernhard where heading for Dover so they can take the ferry to Germany. It would be much slower than by expressway or by the Eurostar, but they preferred this. Above them, were several Aurors flying on brooms and in invisibility cloaks to hide from detection. They will board the ferry incognito and monitor the Germans.

MEANWHILE IN THE SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS

[COLLEGE OF ADVANCED MAGICAL STUDIES, 10:35AM]

The magi students were now in a debriefing from teachers and Aurors along with Alastair to help in the matter of the WWAEI. They sat there, knowing now they will receive new course work involving the current Muggle world and get up to speed. It was going to be a long month…

PARIS, FRANCE

[GARD DU NORD, 10TH ARRONDISSEMENT, 1:02PM]

Juliette and Edmond made their way out of the station to catch the number 20 bus and head for Juliette's neighborhood of Batignolles in the 17th Arrondissement, "You're all right," he asked her as both sat next to each other.

"I am. When are you planning to head back to Marseilles," she asked, "Tonight. I want to spend some time with you first," he told her, barely above a whisper and then the bus got rolling and Aurors in disguise at the back of the bus.

HOURS LATER ACROSS THE WORLD…

ISTANBUL, TURKEY

[GRAND BAZAAR, 3:23PM]

Fatma was preparing for the months ahead so she was here to buy the essential herbs and spices. As well as looking for any sort of piece to buy as a weapon, there were mystics here by the bunch to draw from.

TEL AVIV

[JAFFA, 3:31PM]

Delilah was making connections and met with the man, Alon, to now give him a new assignment. She managed to be alone for the most part, but still, the Aurors were watching her closely as she gave Alastair a hard time back in London. And would definitely give her contact a rough time if she double-crossed them.

MONDAY

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, USA

The New York six core members had a free morning and headed to Queens to practice with Mohammad while Aurors were following them. First now in the Americas, they were way out of jurisdiction to do anything besides observation. Credentials were of little to no worth here and that was worrisome.

SALVADOR, BRAZIL

Like their North American counterparts, their lack of jurisdiction made them vulnerable and powerless. Apparation for long distances was taxing, and in the Americas, nearly impossible to take without splinching. And since Cecilia is an Afro-Brazilian mystic, their credentials here would matter way less than those in New York

BUENOS AIRES

And in Argentina to monitor Dante, or Alastair's new target of extreme observation, it was summer and the strange climate along with those in Brazil made the jump in travel time really fatiguing.

KYOTO, JAPAN

The winter here was surprising with snow and bitter cold from Russia. The Aurors huddled in their coats as they observed Shinji and Koji enjoying a walk in the evening along the Philosopher's Walk. In silence, they watched, wishing this would just pick up and end for all of them. But like the others across the world, they are starting to realize that all of them are now playing a new game with new rules of play. No one liked this at all…

TO BE CONTINUED

Three months later, or rather more, I'm FINALLY updating! Things happened in my life since my last update: applying for graduate school (wish me luck there) and suffered an arm injury, which, I'm thankful I didn't break my arm. BUT I'M BACK EVERYONE! I am going to borrow a lot of Harry Potter ideas for this, but remember, they serve as a launching pad for new ideas some of my friends and I have worked on. Which I would like to thank HolyDragoon and Lilyflower 00 for their support and encouragement; without them I won't be here. As well as to A.W. LeMonte.

The Henry Purcell pieces I would recommend the rendition done by the Academy of Ancient Music, directed by Christopher Hogwood. The Rameau and Charpentier pieces look no further than Les Musiciens du Louvre with Marc Minkowski. As for the piece by John Dowland, I prefer Paul O'Dette. And yes, music will still play a part here, more so than ever.

Read, review, critique, and see you all soon.