COLONEL HOFFMAN

(GEARS I, ACT I: ASHES)

And the LORD said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour.

And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days.

— Joshua 6:2 and 3

A/N: I know that this fic features an OC as Harry's main companion, but I do hope that one day we see a solo Harry x Gears of War fanfic, or even a Ron and Harry in GOW, or maybe even Hermione too. Boy she could be like Control. Haha!

There will be many footnotes in this chapter regarding vital information about the GOW universe. However, if you are already familiar with the universe, then you won't need to read them. Remember that I'm writing this story with the idea that the audience isn't super familiar with GOW but is with Harry Potter. Also, footnotes will only pop up around the first time that something is mentioned, if the mentioned item isn't explained in the context of its usage. That means that there will be many footnotes at the beginning of the story and they will wean with time.

Finally, I changed the story from "slow updates" to "inconsistent updates". That is because I work on that story that I am inspired to write. I am currently working on six fanfics relevant to this one, but I am only publishing this one in the meantime. All sixish stories flow together and exist in the same universe. So I have to be careful to maintain the internal integrity and consistency of these stories, so that there are no holes. Plus I am working on two other original stories and another fanfic under a different name. Plus I am building a business and have a major role in my church. So… a lot of things guys. The updates won't be consistent. However, I do upload the moment a chapter is finished. So… that's that. What that also means is that there may be times when you get six uploads in a week or maybe none for a month. Sorry, it's just the way I roll for now.

Thanks for your support and enjoy these updates whenever they do happen.

P.S.

Oh, and I'm going back and rebeating all the Gears except for 4 and 5 on insanity… So wish me luck! Not looking forward to 2.

(~~~~~~~~~~)

[7,000]

Trial by Fire — 14 A.E. Ephyra

"So where a ve going?" asked his blonde haired compatriot.

Around them, the sounds of grenades and boomshots could be heard going off in the distance. Sometimes the shockwave would send dust and rubble crashing down around them. They always had to be light on their feet. The buildings weren't stable around here after all. At least there was nothing close. All the firefight seemed further North.

"Embrey Square," I replied back. "There's a whole shitload of important buildings there, and I'm willing to put my galleons on it that there are a lot of precious items to the COG there. At this point, I figure that damned Horcrux has to be hiding in plain sight. Probably sitting on the pedestal of some bust of a famous Gear."

Looking outside of the building they were in, I could see a flock of Raven helicopters passing through the area. Most of them rode with their side doors open, so they could get on and off the choppers the instant it hit the LZ[fn1]. Plus, they could fire at the ground from above, especially if the chopper had rotating gun turrets.

"I figure it's worth a shot," I told my friend. The man walking with me through this rubbish city was Gellert Grindelwald. No, not that Grindelwald, but his grandson. He'd been with me the whole way in this Horcrux hunt.

He just sighed next to me in responde and said, "Copy zat Harry." I know he was already tired of this hunt. We'd been at it for two years. Two years of dodging COG recruitment. Two years of dodging Locust bullets. Two years of dodging Hammer strikes. I have to give it to these people, they're tough… even if the lot of them were a bunch of wankers.

Like myself, he was equipped with full COG regalia, except the helmet. We weren't actually members of the COG. A couple of months back, almost 10 now, we secured these uniforms from a couple of KIA[fn2] Gears. It was kill or be killed out here, and the dead have no use for the armour. They're dead!

(~~~~~~~~~~)

Embry Square

When we arrived on sight, we took cover under a couple of windows, just barely poking our heads out to watch the scene below. Turns out Embry Square wasn't so deserted. A King Raven chopper was already touched down in the adjacent street to the main building.

The Rave was powered off, and four people were standing outside of it. Closet to the chopper were two unnamed Gears, helmets on and everything. Sadly, something that I learned in this world is that anybody who basically wasn't important always had their helmet on.

Next to the Gears was a blonde woman in grey uniform. She was tall, not as tall as Gellert and I, but the average height of Sera.

Seems like everybody in this damned place is over six feet, even the ladies.

At the forefront was a gruff looking man. He looked older than the rest, having wrinkles on his face, and he didn't move with the same degree of springedness that the others did. That didn't trick me though. I was sure the moment a fight broke out, he was just as able and willing to kick your ass. Like so many important people in this world, he wore no helmet, but he did have a grey tactical fatigue cap. Funny thing is that a year ago, I wouldn't even know what a fatigue cap was. It was designless. Just a dull grey colour.

"Look Harry, you see zat number," whispered Gellert next to me, pointing out their identification number, painted in big white letters by the back of the Raven.

"I do."

"It means they're High Command of the COG," he said.

Gellert was probably right too. King Ravens could be identified usually by a number, though sometimes by the squad they were assigned to watch over. They're call sign was something like "KR-05" or "KR-19". However, only KR-00[fn3] was flown by the High Command of the COG army. General rule of the COG was the lower the number, the higher in the chain the chopper was used for. Not always true, but a nice little rule.

"Yeah, either that or they're desperate," I replied back. Resources had been running dry since Ephyra had fallen. Maybe they started using specialty vehicles for everyday operations. At least there's no Onyx Guard in sight. They were the elite of the COG, and only reserved for protecting the important people in society. Scientist. Politicians. Even celebrities. Hadn't seen any of the Guard in Ephyra for a long time.

All four of the people on the ground were walking toward a second Raven that was pulling in. Its sign read KR-80. The woman stayed back slightly, close to the raven, but the Gears came up behind the gruff looking old man, acting like guards.

As the new Raven touched down, four more men exited the chopper. Two exited out of the right door, facing away from KR-00. One was a normal Gear in full gear… yes… his helmet was on. The other was an olive skinned man with dark hair. He looked like one of those latino men from the Americas. Both of his ears were pierced with small golden rings, and he had a small beard which covered just under his chin and neck. Well trimmed and tight. He clearly took stock in looking good, even in the midst of a battle.

The other two hopped out of the left door facing High Command. The first out was also a gruff looking man. Even from here, I could see that he had a massive scar running down his face. He had a goat patch under his lips, and a bandana was tied around the top of his head, hiding his hair. Though I could see a little bit of it sticking out under his sideburns. Black as coal. He wore the same armour that we took off those two fallen Gears. Veteran armour, I think it was called.

Finally, there was a bald Asian man. This man wore your typical Trooper armour, a brighter shade of blue in comparison to our darker and heavier Veteran armour. He chose who stayed close to the choppers, while the scarred up Gear approached High Command.

By their body language, I could tell that the older man didn't like the fast approaching Gear. Even from way back here, I could hear the two speak.

High Command shoved a finger in the scarred Gear's chest and said, "You!" with as much scathing and revulsion as the older gentleman could muster. "Traitor like you doesn't deserve to wear the uniform." Evidently he took pride in the COG. A lot of Gears didn't. They knew how messed up the COG could be. Apparently this man didn't share those same opinion… or rather he had great pride in their organisation.

The scarred man, not one for smart ass replies, but never one to take shit, simply said, "Looks like you could use all the help you can get." The scarred man didn't bother to look High Command in the eye or face, looking similar to an annoyed teen standing before his parents.

He didn't like that.

"Step! Aside!" growled the old man, as the Asian gentlemen from the raven walked up. High Command turned towards him and greeted, "Lieutenant! I've got good news," he said as both men turned their backs, walking off. "We have a plan to end this war, once and for all…" trailing off.

Meanwhile, the scarred man simply glared at his back, while the darker looking man came up behind him. He whispered something to the scarred man in amusement. By now both of the unnamed helmeted Gears that had been acting like guards had moved closer to the chopper beside the grey uniformed women.

She pressed her hand against her ear and said something into the com. Whatever it was, didn't matter. What was fun to watch was the scarred up Gear lay eyes upon the women. His visage seemed to soften and a light came to his eyes that hadn't been there before. The gruff and hardened demeanour seemed to melt away slightly. Likewise, the women looked back at the Gear and grinned in what was almost a coy manner. She appeared to be equally as pleased at seeing him.

"Looks like love on ze battlefield," Gellert whispered in a teasing tone.

"Yeah, looks like it," I said back. Though by the side eye look that Gellert gave me, I could tell that it hadn't come out the way I intended. It was bitter with a side serving of despair. Ginny and I used to look at each other like that. Now we never would. I should've been happy for the couple, but all I felt was anger that they had what I never would. It seemed like Gellert noticed me too.

While the couple locked eyes with each other, that was when the chaos broke out.

A shot rang across the battlefield, as the helmeted Gear on the women's right took a bullet to the helmet, taking his head clean off. The blonde woman ducked at the sound, and the blood of the Gear splattered all over her shoulder and hair.

Following the shot was a war cry, coming from the main building as a platoon as grubs[fn4] began pouring out of it.

"Locust!" someone screamed.

While another shouted, "Take cover!"

The scarred one growled across the field, "MOVE!" Though everyone heard it, I couldn't help but think that it was directed at the women. As the Gears took off running, I saw that the other guard for the Commander fell to the ground dead, shots of locust firing peppering him.

I used the chaos to observe my surroundings. Sandbags had already been set up, though by their colour, it looked like they'd been there a long time. All the people took shelter behind them, save for the lady who hopped in the raven. It wasn't powered on, but it provided good cover. Meanwhile, parts of the main building were destroyed or tilting, and the twin set of stairs leading to it were mossy covered. Evidently this building was old and has not been maintained since the fall of Ephyra. At the top of the stairs was where all the Locusts were stationed, taking cover behind the main building.

Immediately, upon reaching the sandbags, the Latino looking man, the scarred up man, and the other Gear from KR-80 began firing back. Meanwhile, the Asian man and Commander began conversing behind the sandbags. Though with all the gunfire and explosions going off, I could no longer hear them.

The men on the ground tried to fight back, but they were at a disadvantage. The Locust had the high ground, and in any fire fight, that was always the preferred location. It meant you could fire down at your enemy. You could see more than they could. Sometimes, even when taking cover, you'd be able to see over your enemies cover and take them out.

"Gellert!" I growled.

"Yes, yes, yes, I'm already on it," he said, probably already recognising what he called my 'saving people thing'. I turned towards him to see him unstrapping the Longshot sniper rifle from his back. A Longshot was a powerful gun, more like Sera's equivalent of a fifty cal, only lighter and with not so much recoil. One well aimed shot could take out a grub in a moment. That was quite the feat, as it takes almost a full mag or half a mag from a Lancer[fn5]. Locust Drones [fn6] were a lot tougher than human soldiers afterall. It was in their genetics. It's why they didn't need to wear nearly as much armour as we had to.

"So what's ze plan, Harry?"

"You stay here and snipe from the building. I'll move in and flank from the back."

"And just how in ze hell do you plan to do zat? Hmm? By the time you manage to go all the way around back, the firefight will be over."

"Agreed, but I don't think we'll be much help if both of us just stand here and snipe. That leads me to the crazy part. I think I've got enough juice in me that I can apparate behind the grubs and flank 'em," I explained.

Magic on Sera wasn't the same as Earth. There was practically none, if any, in the air. Most people assumed that a wizard's core generated mana for them to use. That's why people thought that powerful wizards had tons of internal magic. That's not fully the case. Yes, a wizard's core could generate magic, but it wasn't a lot. The greater importance of a large core was that it acted like a pipe for the magic in the air to flow to the wizard. The bigger the pipe, the more magic could flow. However, with no magic in the air, I would have to wait for what little magic my body generated to fill up. Once so much was filled up, then I could use whatever corresponding spell I had power for. The more magic I had stored, the more powerful of a spell I could. Apparition didn't take much magic, only a couple days worth. But I would never be able to muster up enough energy to perform fiendfyre, especially without a wand. Afterall, a wand acted like a pipe… expander… I guess… or more like a second pipe hooking into your core, only this was nearly 100 times the size. The wand simply allowed for the magic to flow faster and thus become amplified. With no magic in the air though, a wand was basically worthless. Not that it mattered… Gellert and I had already broken our wands about a year ago.

My poor holly phoenix wand, I lamented.

"Your fucking nuts Harry, but I trust you."

"Good. Take aim but don't fire till you see me flank them, got it?"

"Vilco, Harry!"

I unstrapped the Lancer on my back, got down on one knee, and closed my eyes. I tried to focus on the area, picturing it the best that I knew. Turns out that apparition was a lot easier with a boat load of magic and without grenades going off. And I wouldn't want to splinch myself out here. Madam Pomphrey wasn't around to fix me up and I did have the skills nor magic to perform a healing charm. Probably Gellert didn't either.

It took me all of ten seconds. Of course, that's all it takes to lose a good soldier. 10 seconds. A pop resounded and I felt that familiar tug in my stomach as I was sucked through a tube of infinitesimal size. I heard the grubs even before I opened my eyes. I had just appeared behind enemy lines, and I could hear their cries.

"Die Groundwalker!"

"Serve the Queen!"

Whoever the hell that was?

Immediately standing up, I got behind cover, in a place where I wouldn't be spotted. I was in the arched stone passageway leading to where the Locusts were taking cover. Not wanting to be flanked myself, I first checked where the passageway led. It wasn't very long, only about 10 feet. Checking inside, I couldn't see any locusts on their way.

Alright, mate. Let's do this. May the Lord be with us, I thought in a silent prayer towards Grindelwald.

"Arrghhh!" I roared, revving the Lancer in my hand, as I immediately came from behind a grub and came across his back. Blood ran across my face and armour as the Lancer turned the Drone into minced meat. I didn't drive the chainsaw all the way across his back. There wasn't time. I just got the Drone to the point where I knew he wouldn't be walking.

Ripping the blade out of his body, I tore off towards the next grub, this time the chainsaw acting more like a long-sword as I drove it into the grubs and came down the middle, severing whatever junk a Locust even had. Killing those two was just the right move, as it drew the attention of the rest of the grubs. However, it also had the consequence of freeing up some cover for me behind enemy lines.

Immediately I tossed a grenade out at a bunch of grubs that were bunched up. I didn't really aim, but just blind threw. It didn't need to go far. Grenades were an interesting thing in this world. While I had never seen one back on Earth, I knew the ones here in Sera were far different. They were more like a ball and chain, and to throw them, you had to wind them up, swinging them through the air before letting them fly loose. The whole mechanism of throwing was foreign to a regular grenade. A regular grenade was like throwing a baseball or a small American football. Sera's grenades had to take into account other factors beyond how good you could aim and how good you could throw. They went farther though. Bolo Grenades, they were called. Turns out the force of spinning something in a circle really fast lets it travel a lot farther. They were also a lot heavier. Everything was in this world though.

The grenade went off. Locust blood and meat went flying everywhere. It had blown three of them to smithereens. I crouched behind cover, only briefly peeking around the corner so as to get a look at the scene. Entering the depth of my mind, I utilised my occlumency to slow time in my mind. (occlumency didn't take magic thankfully. Just a core. That's why only wizards could do it.) It gave me room to analyse the battlefield at nearly a quarter of the speed things happened in the real world.

'Well, that's not quite accurate.'

It's more like my brain was actually working four times as fast.

There were about six Locusts left. Four of them were your good old Drones, but two were Grenadiers. I always hated the bastards. They were the size and shape of regular Drones only they wore no armour, so they moved a lot quicker than the others. The bastards had Gnasher shotguns, a powerful revolver, and a set of grenades. I hated them because they were crazy enough to charge out in the open, only finding cover every once and a while, as they tried to mow you down with their shotgun. They acted like men who had nothing left to lose.

'Maybe they do have nothing left to lose. The most dangerous kind of man.'

I knew I only had moments before one of those two would be coming my way.

"Someone's flanking the grubs!" I heard one of the Gears shout. "This is our chance. Hit 'em hard!"

Before the Gears on the ground only shot when they could, choosing to hide behind cover. It was the right call. However, they saw what we had done for them. We had made an opening, and they took it.

A smile wove its way upon my face as I looked down the steps. All the Gears were looking over their sandbags and laying down fire on the enemy position. Now the Locust couldn't look up without getting riddled with bullets… which some of them actually did… Grubs might be tough, just not particularly smart. Like Crab and Goyle with a burst rifle.

Looks like I was right too. The next time I peeked over the cover, both of the Grenadiers were already charging at me. I took aim at one of them with the Lancer and fired, but the other was coming just as fast. The grub that I had begun laying down fire on fell over dead after half a mag. However, that's when I saw it before I heard it. The Grenadier beside him had also fallen over. Sniper shot to the heart… or where the heart of a human would be anyways.

I saw one of the Drones behind him go down too, not too long after. That was the beauty of Gellert. He was one hell of a sniper. Fast at reloading, damn good at taking aim again, and he never missed.

Another went down as well, but that was from Lancer fire down below. Reloading, I took aim at the last two grubs. Pulling the trigger, I laid into one. Mostly shots towards his head, only taking half a mag.

It's like fighting off bloody werewolves. Even shots to the head aren't instant death.

I couldn't get a shot off at the next guy. He wouldn't poke his head around cover, and the Gears down below were still laying down fire. This was apparently smart enough not to poke his head up when bullets were coming at you. So, strapping the Lancer to my back, I took off towards him. He was hiding behind a corner of cover. One side facing the Gears, and the catty-corner facing me. If I tried to go around it, I might be shot by the grub. He would have the advantage

Instead, I got right behind the cover facing me, and unlatched the Boltok from its holster. I stuck my arm right over the cover, in the area I knew he would be in, and fired the pistol blindly. I couldn't be sure what I was hitting or if I was even hitting anything, so I just kept firing till the clip was empty.

There was a moment of waiting. No response from the grub on the other side. In the meantime, some of the Gears kept firing. I poked my head around the side of the cover, and I could see the grub leaning up against it, body slack.

"All clear!" I shouted. It took a minute, but eventually the firing ceased. When it did, I made my way out of cover, and down the stairs to greet the other Gears. Immediately, I was accosted by the High Command guy.

"You! What is your name, rank, and squad, soldier?" he said. Once more, his voice had the growling tone that he had used with scarred Gear earlier. To many it would sound like he was mad, but to me, this man reminded me of Alastor Moody. That guy always had a growl in his voice, no matter what he said. And for some reason, that automatically made me like him.

"Sir, my name is Harry James Peverell, and I'm not part of the COG, sir!" His presence seemed to automatically demand that I call him sir. It was just the kind of aura that he had.

I could see the way his eyes shot up the moment he heard my voice. It wasn't the first time I'd seen that reaction. So far, I still couldn't pinpoint accents based on where people were. Most of the COG had American accents, even the Afro-American and Country ones. Some even sounded like Aussies or Russians, but I heard they came from contents outside of Tyrus. Yet in all this time, I have yet to run into anyone who sounded like a right and proper Brit. Seems like no one else had either. The older gentleman himself had an interesting accent. It was American, but I noticed that every syllable seemed to be overly pronounced and was particularly emphatic.

His face seemed to harden as he said, "Then would you enlighten me as to what in the hell you are doing wearing one of my soldiers' uniforms!" By now the other members had come close to us. Though their guns weren't pointed at me, I could tell that they became rather tense at realising that I wasn't a Gear.

"Sir, we collected these armours off of two fallen Gears about nine months ago," I explain. "We've been searching all across the damn nation without armour, and that proved to be quite the challenge, sir. Same with the guns. Taken from fallen soldiers. We meant no disrespect to the fallen. We understand how the COG feels about desecrating bodies, and I promise that we treated their bodies with the utmost of respect. We simply did what we had to do to survive, sir!"

"Hmmm," was all the man growled.

Meanwhile, that scarred-up Gear asked, "Who is we?"

"That would be my friend up there," I said, pointing towards the third story of a building on the street across from the Square. All eyes looked turned towards that location, and there they could see Gellert's upper body and head from the window, overlooking us. He had his Boltshot sniper rested across his arms in the patrol carry position.

"Oi Gellert! C'mon down, man."

"You got it, Harry!" was his reply, in that thick half-German half-French accent, another thing that I was sure the Gears would notice right away. They didn't have those here either. Apparently Tyrus was a one language country, and even though it was English, they called Tyrian here. Exactly the same in every way though.

Gellert strapped his sniper on his back, and then he did what was perhaps the dumbest thing he could have. He vaulted over the ledge of the window, flipping about two times in the air, before landing on the ground, posing in kneeled position with one arm touching the ground.

"Oh shit," I muttered under my breath.

Sometimes Gellert forgot that he wasn't a normal human. See, in my third year of Hogwarts, my Defence Against the Dark Arts professor was a man named Remus Lupin. As his name ironically implied, he was a werewolf. Back on Earth, werewolves normally take a potion, so that they can retain the usage of their mind. However, in a long stream of trouble, my professor forgot to take his potion on the night of a full moon. Just so happen to be that on that very same night Gellert, Alby, and I were all outside with the wolf. Alby and I were fine, but Gellert ended up getting bitten.

Unlike my professor though, who hid away from his curse, Gellert seemed to embrace being a werewolf. That made him stronger than the average werewolf, faster, possess more control over his form, and even heal faster. (Obviously too that made him physically better than the average human.) Even with the superb physics of most people on Sera, none could hope to keep up with Gellert. One of those superb feats was that Gellert seemed to always land on his feet. Not only that, but he could fall from insane distances without breaking anything.

So, when the pillock jumped out of the window, landed on the ground in superhero pose, and barreled towards us, it was safe to say that it got many strange looks. They all knew something was weird with him.

Damnit, Grindelwald!

I could even hear the High Command guy mutter under his lips, "What in the hell?"

Coming up to us, I introduced the two, "Sir, this is my friend, Gellert Grindelwald. He was the one sniping out the Locust from afar."

Both of us standing next to each other, I could see several people run their eyes up and down our forms. It was the same reaction that people always gave us. After all, I stood about six foot nine, and Gellert was actually over seven feet tall. That was part of why he liked sniping so much. He didn't have to be in combat, hiding behind cover that could barely obscure him. Even I felt for him with how far I had to bend my back to hide. Plus, because Gellert was a werewolf, his entire body was broad and muscled making him not particularly easy to hide.

Part of why we were so tall goes back to our Hogwarts' days. I was an average five-eight and Gellert was about the same, but back then Gellert and I, along with Alby, were not so confident in our appearance. That's when we discovered rituals. Several were quite dangerous, but others were not so much. A ritual always takes a sacrifice. The greater the sacrifice, usually the more dangerous, but also more worthwhile, the ritual was. You also had to make sure to only do so many. If you left your body for too long on the wrong number of rituals, for some reason, things would go badly. Your options were basically one, three, seven, nine, 13, or 27. Anything beyond that was practically impossible to do. We went with a grand total of seven rituals. We did 1 one month, another two the next month and the four a couple years later.

One that we did only took about 10,000 galleons, which was cheap in comparison to other rituals, to change our appearances in several ways. Galleons worked because they were made of gold, and rituals did accept gold as a sacrifice. This ritual improved our eyesight. It helped scale me up so I was a lot taller. Hence my height. It even helped me not be so skinny. I'd never be Gellert sized, but I certainly wasn't the Quidditch Broom I used to be. (Made it harder to play Seeker though.) The bloody ritual even helped us… down below… Technicall, it was the same ritual… but with a targeted effect.

Man, were we stupid for that. We were allowed to do seven rituals and we wasted one on our looks and the other on our cocks.

Anyways, as the High Command addressed us, we actually had to look down at him, while he had to tilt his head up.

"Sir, together, Gellert and I have been searching all across Sera. That's why we needed these guns and uniforms."

"Searching for what?" he said. "Don't you idiots know that Ephyra is now considered Locust territory? You should've fallen back to Jacinto like the rest of the world." he asked.

"Aye, sir, I understand that, but I am looking… for a lost soul." There was a pause in my breath as I tried to find the right words. Behind the man, I could see that Latino looking Gear soften a little as a look of sympathy came upon his face, almost like he knew what I was doing. I'm sure that he really didn't though.

"Hmm… Hmmm…" he grumbled. "Well, do you know who I am?"

""No, sir!"" Gellert and I said.

"Allow me to introduce myself then. My name is Colonel Hoffman." Both of our eyes widened at that. Now the King Raven made sense. Except for Chairman Prescott, the leader of the COG, and as well as a few others, Colonel Hoffman was practically and for all intents and purposes, the Commander-in-Chief of the COG. A known legend for his commitment and his effort in the Pendulum Wars. Same with the Locust War. He practically headed up the entire military operation after his fellow colonel, Ezra Loomis, died the same year as E-Day along with General Bardry Salaman, who just mysteriously disappeared.

Seeing our expressions, the colonel said, "Good, then it looks like you've heard of me." Looking us both up and down, with an almost appraising visage, he said, "I have to say, for not being a Gear, that was some of the finest grub killing that I have ever seen. Right now, as it stands, we are low on Gears, and since you two seem to have proven yourselves in combat, it would be a damn shame for your skills to go to waste. See, we have a plan that is going to end this war for good, but we need all the help we can get! So what do you say, boys? How would you like to join the COG?"

Once more, Gellert and I's eyes widened.

"But, sir," I said, "we have no formal military training."

He just brushed it off. "To hell with that! We need every gun that we can get. Let me ask you, soldier, do you know how to handle your weapons?"

"Well… yes… of course, sir… but…"

"And do you know the Golden Rule of combat?"

"Aye, sir. To get your ass behind cover, but…"

"And do you know how to communicate across a com?"

"Yes, sir. Gellert and I have found it to be very practical in combat to know such things… though we are not equipped with coms ourselves."

"And finally, do you know how to obey orders?"

"Yes sir! Number one thing my aunt and uncle taught me was obedience. And I apply that practice wherever fit." I would never obey blindly, but I understood to trust in your leaders while in combat. You couldn't always see what they could.

"Well then," said the Colonel, "it sounds to me like you're good and ready for the COG."

"But sir… I don't know how to operate a Centaur [fn7]… or a Raven… or…"

"Argh," the Colonel waved off, "forget about that. If you ever have to pilot a Raven, then something has gone all to hell. As for the rest, that's what you'll have your squad for. But right now, I need men on the ground so that we can hit these sons of bitches where they live."

Seeing him wave off my concerns, I looked around for another excuse. That was until Gellert laid his hand on my shoulder. Turning to him, I saw his face and as his heterochromatic eyes peered at me, I knew we were in.

We simply stared at each other and a thousand words came crossed between us. And I knew Gellert was right. If we could end this war like the colonel had mentioned earlier, then searching for the Diadem would be so much easier. Plus, Sera had housed us for two years, and though it was rough, we hadn't really done anything to help out.

"Alright, sir," I said. "It would be our honour to help end this war."

A grand grind came upon the Colonel's face as he said, "Well then… Private Peverell… Private Grindelwald… welcome to the COG. We'll get your tags made for you later. For right now, you'll join up with Lieutenant Kim here," he said as he introduced us to the bald Asian man, "and Delta Squad." he said gesturing towards the helmeted Gear, the Latino looking man, and the scarred man with a bandana.

Turning to Lieutenant Kim, the colonel said, "I trust you to inform these men of what we just discussed."

"Yes, sir." came the lieutenant's soft reply. His natural voice was soft yet firm. Much different from the colonel's gruff growl.

Still speaking with Kim, Colonel Hoffman said, "The lieutenant will be feeding you intel."

There came the blonde woman, blood splattered across her shoulders and back, while she held two fingers on the com in her ear. She said, "Yes, sir. And the smart thing to do right now would be to leave." She was huffing and slightly out of breath. Her physique and uniform didn't quite match the rest of the people here, so it would make sense that she was intel. Hermione was like that sometimes. Directing war efforts via magic mirrors from Hogwarts. That was before she was killed at least. That was before Hogwarts fell.

Fucking giants!

The colonel thrust his fingers into Kim's chest and said, "You! Get it done!" At that same moment, the scar faced came up to the colonel, which grabbed his attention. "I expect you to give me one-hundred and ten percent, Fenix!" said the colonel to the man.

Glaring at the colonel, the now identified Fenix simply shook his head and said, "I'm not doing this for you," before walking away.

No reply came from the colonel except a gruff growl, before he and the blonde women walked off to the Raven, its propellers already starting and getting ready for take off.

Meanwhile, Kim came up to us and said, "Welcome to Delta Squad. As you heard the colonel say, I'm Lieutenant Kim. Here's your tac-com radio transmitters. Place them in your ear. They have a button on them. If for any reason you need to talk, simply press on them and they'll transmit what you are saying. You can also turn the com off and on, but there shouldn't be any reason to do that now."

Taking them from his outstretched hand, Gellert and I placed them in our left ears. This way we could hold our gun and use the coms if needed.

"Thank you sir," I said, "We hope to be helpful on this missions of yours, whatever that is"

"Right," Kim nodded. "Alright, Delta Squad, reel it in. In case you didn't hear, the COG has recently developed a Lightmass Bomb. High Command believes that it'll wipe the Locust with one fell swoop. However, they don't have the targeting information and without it, they can't fire it with any degree of accuracy. That's why they need the Resonator. With it, we can map the Locust's tunnels, so we know where they live and where to hit them. Our objective is to find Alpha Squad. They have the Resonator. Command says that they lost contact with them in Embry Square. We're to go in, find Alpha, and help deploy that Resonator."

The Latino looking man came walking up and said, "And did I hear right that we won't have air support?" Then he turned over to us and said, "I'm Dom, by the way. That guy over there," he said pointing to Fenix, "is Marcus."

So that was his name? Marcus Fenix? Ohh… I thought in realisation. Now I knew why the Colonel didn't like him so much. What Fenix had done was world renowned.

"Harry" "Gellert" we said, as we introduced ourselves. By the way he walked and talked, Dom seemed like quite a relaxed man. Different from the tough exterior of Fenix. Yet he cared deeply about his appearance with those gold earrings and trimmed beard. In a way, he reminded me of a darker version of Bill.

Before Fenrir killed him too. Fucking dog!

"That's correct," Kim said, answering Dom's question. "There are Nemacyst in the area that won't allow Ravens to come in. This entire mission is gonna have to be on foot. Now then, are there any questions?" No one responded.

"Right, then let's get in there."

Kim took off towards the stairs, preparing to enter the main building. That's when a horde of grubs began pouring out of the archway from where I just flanked.

"Enemy reinforcements!" yelled Fenix.

"Take cover!" Kim commanded.

All of us fell behind the sandbags. Meanwhile, the King Raven that Delta Squad had arrived on, flew in over the courtyard for support. It layed down fire all over the grubs taking out their reinforcements.

Over the coms, I heard in my ear, "That one was on the house. Good luck, Delta!"

"Alright then, let's get up those stairs, Delta," Kim said. "Alpha is waiting."

Falling in line, Gellert and I made it up the stairs, towards the back behind Marcus, Dom, and Kim. As we ran behind them, the last member of Delta Squad introduced himself.

"Man, that was really cool what you guys did up here. Taking out all those grubs like that. You guys are big too."

Gellert laughed, that harsh but genuine German laugh, as he said, "Haha! I like zis kid Harry."

It was rather ironic to call the Gear kid that, considering we didn't know what he looked like, and it was very likely that we were the youngest one's here. Marcus Fenix was mid-thirties, if I remembered my Sera history right, and the other guys didn't look to be any younger. Meanwhile, we were technically 25, but dimension travel could be quite the mind-fuck. We left for the Realm of Erised when we were about 17 and we spent about five years there. In that time we aged appropriately, but when we returned back to our world, it was like time had been reset, and we returned to our 17 year old self. In the five years that we had been gone, only 1 month had gone by in our time. Likely the same would happen here. Having been here two years, we were basically 19, even though we had lived 25 years, but it didn't matter. We knew we'd go back to 17 when we got back. Still, after all the shit we'd seen, we felt much older than we were. Meanwhile, this Gear seemed to act a lot younger.

"Names Carmine. Benjamin Carmine."

Still trudging up the steps, I said, "Call me Harry, Carmine."

"Dah, and call me Gellert."

Thus, we joined Delta Squad.

'For two years we had been dodging COG recruiters. Now here we are about to engage in perhaps the most important battle of this entire war. How does this shit always happen? Why did I even agree to this?' I'm sure Gellert was having similar thoughts as me.

Turning towards the smug cunt, I said, "Just so we're clear, I don't go looking for trouble. Trouble just has a way of finding me."

That duffer had a cocky grin on his face when I looked at him, all teeth showing in a ferocious smile and his eyes twinkling like Dumbledore's would.

"Whatever you say Harry, whatever you say."

(~~~~~~~~~~)

Final A/N: Addressing a comment. Sofia won't be back for a little while. I'm honestly thinking of bringing her back in Gears 2. I'm not gonna give all the details, but it will have to do with her being kidnapped and held by the rogue COG, before somehow ending up in Locust custody…

Also, I hope ya'll like the idea of magic not being totally gone, but not totally there either. Almost like a special ability.

Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed it.

Footnotes:

fn1: LZ = an abbreviation meaning "landing zone".

fn2: KIA = an abbreviation meaning "killed in action".

fn3: KR = King Raven. There is no difference between a KR and a regular Raven. "Raven" is simply the shortened form of King Raven. Just like how one could say "We got Tigers rolling over that hill" to mean Tiger Tanks. Or how one would say, "Panzer rolling across that field" instead of saying the full German Panzerkampfwagen.

fn4: Grubs = a slang term to describe the locust. Used in a derogatory and demeaning way. Similarly to Japs in WWII or chinks in Vietnam or mudbloods in Harry Potter. Kind of a racist term, but hey, the COG hates the grubs. Plus it was faster than saying, "locust".

fn5: Lancer = an automatic machine gun with a chainsaw attached on the underside. It's also the primary weapon of the COG, just like M16's once were for the US army. I've personally used chainsaws on vines and trees, and I know how easy it is to dull one. I have no idea how sawing into bone and guts doesn't dull their blades, but I personally don't care. Because they are cool.

fn6: Locust Drones = "Drones" for short are simply the basic foot soldiers of the Locust.

fn7: Centaur = a Gears of War tank. However, unlike Earth's tanks, which are on tracks and chains and sprockets, Centaurs are on actual wheels with proper suspension. They also possess a very high suspension system, as indicated by their massive struts and wheels.