Yo!
Welcome to another chapter of "Road to Power". A bit later than I wanted, but still better than my usual delays. At least I had some time to think about the current arc and plan how I want things to go.
This chapter will deal with a problem that Logan pushed deep inside his mind, but now with his current situation, it finally came back. I didn't really foreshadow it and that was my bad, but well we all learn from our mistakes. I hope I will be able to deal with shit like this a lot better from now on.
Also, I would like to invite all of you to my discord where I am planning to post a new chapter for my every fic 1-2 days before its official release. This is mostly so I can get quick opinions about the new chapter before I post them. This way if I make some huge mistake or forget something, the discord community will be able to stop me from posting the chapter before I fix those errors. Two chapters ago something like that would have been really useful and so I decided to go along with this idea. The link to the server will be below.
Discord Server: discord. gg/ b7JaQcpuc7 (Just delete the spaces.)
Okay... That should be it so without any further ado let's get straight to the chapter.
Enjoy.
PS: Because everything in this chapter happens in one day, I added a specific time to each scene so you wouldn't be confused.
Chapter 17. Reality
2nd of January, 2008, Location Unknown, Time: 16:30 GMT
During my first life, I lived to survive. To push forward and maybe someday finally break free from all the shit my stupid decisions got me into. It didn't happen... Instead like many others before me, I was killed in a retarded job just to appease my supervisors. A job that was most likely a setup. After about ten years of working on the wrong side of the law, I just knew too much and unfortunately, I wasn't important enough to be kept alive any longer.
"Kid's got balls. We are one man down and he even fought Agent Cooper... Well fought might be a bit too strong of a word, but at least he tried instead of giving up. If Dr. Whitehall manages to make the boy into something useful then we might get something better than the Winter Soldier."
And so I faded away, dying for something I didn't believe in but what was necessary for my continuous survival. Thrown away like trash that didn't matter. No one would remember me and those who knew me would forget after a week or two. It was kinda funny now that I thought of it. How one childish mistake could turn your entire life into a pit full of shit that you couldn't crawl out of.
"Lay him down here. Dr. Whithall wants us to perform the entry test on the new subjects. Let me see... Logan Hunt. Age: 12. Parents: Unknown. Status: Most likely muggle-born even though Agent Cooper had his doubts with how the boy acted. A suspicion that someone might have trained him... Interesting."
That was why when I woke up in a body not of my own and a world that had elements of fiction, I decided to just go along with it and be happy that my afterlife wasn't as shitty as my life.
After all, being reborn as the Son of Voldemort in a world that connected both Marvel and Harry Potter couldn't be real, right? A creation of my imagination? Most likely. It probably manifested itself as some sort of afterlife where I could finally do something for myself, live life as I wanted.
"Subject is quite healthy. His physical condition shows signs of some light exercise and if what Agent Green says is true. Then the subject's magical condition is even better. Yes... Definitely better than any other children his age we usually get. Moving onto enhancements..."
With those thoughts in my mind, I went ahead with my decision to attend Hogwarts, to use my foreknowledge to gather strength. To become something... more. And if all of this was a creation of my imagination, then there was no chance for anything to stand in my way right? I just had to push forward and I would finally get what I want.
How stupid I was...
"Subject shows signs of slightly advanced healing factor and increased durability of every part of his body. If all goes well the child should be a prime subject for some of our new experiments... Such a shame that Dr. Whitehall won't let us use Subject Zero. With her healing factor, she would handle everything we throw at her."
This was no afterlife. Not a fragment of my imagination, but the next shitty world that wanted to take me out. And all of this because I again made an idiotic decision. A decision that put me in the hands of one of the worst organizations in this new world. Maybe that was just my fate, to be controlled by others and then thrown away like a broken toy.
"Enough experiments for today! Dr. Whitehall wants to talk with the boy. Get him off the table and for both our sakes, the kid better be alive. We had enough failures in the last ten years and Doctor looked surprisingly excited to meet him."
No.
I couldn't fall into the same shit again.
They could stab me and break my bones as many times as they wanted. Run as many tests and experiments as they could create, but in the end, I would get out. This time I wasn't alone but had magic running through my veins, waiting to unleash it on my enemies the moment they wouldn't expect it.
If this new life was real and wanted me to fight for my freedom, then fight I would. My arrogance and idiocy might have gotten me in this situation, but I wouldn't let it end me like it did in my previous life.
After all, someone gave me this chance for new life. Why was I chosen? I had no clue and even if all of this was fake, this time I couldn't let one mistake drag me down.
"Finally you understand. This is reality. Now wake up, I will be waiting."
2nd of January, 2008, Ministry of Magic, DMLE floor, Time: 16:40 GMT
In the past ten years, Albus visited the Department of Magical Law Enforcement more times than he did during the last war. As soon as the kidnappings began Dumbledore did everything he could to prevent further abductions, even working with the Ministry that ten years ago was pretty much in shambles.
The war left a mark on Magical Britain and it took many years to recover and move forward. Thankfully a few years after Voldemort's fall, Amelia Bones was chosen as the next Head of DMLE. Albus respected the woman more than almost any other ministry worker, even if she sometimes straight-up opposed some of Albus' ideas. It honestly annoyed Dumbledore from time to time, but as long as the woman worked for the betterment of the magical community, he could swallow his pride.
It was definitely better than working with Bartemius Crouch Senior or Minister Fudge... Some called Dumbledore incompetent, but if that was true then what those two were supposed to be.
Albus shook his head slowly, now was no the time for thoughts like that.
The old wizard looked around the people gathered in the small office of the Head of DMLE and sighed, "Madam Bones, though it is lovely to see you again, I think we can all agree that it is better to get this over quickly."
The tall, grey-haired woman straightened in her chair and cleared her throat, "Of course Chief Warlock. As all of us know, on the night of 23rd December, Second-year student Logan Hunt was attacked and taken from his place of residence. The boy somehow managed to finally give us a trail to follow and that's the reason for today's meeting. Auror Moody, if you could," she stated calmly before motioning to scarred Auror.
Dumbledore just gave a slight nod and waited for his friend to continue. Albus already knew why Madam Bones contacted him, but the woman like always was just too serious for her own good. Not that he could really fault her after what she went through during the war.
Still, the official meeting was what made Dumbledore wonder. Usually, Amelia passed information to Dumbledore through Alastor or mail, so something unusual must have happened to have her call him to her office.
Alastor limped forward and took out two files from his coat, "Trying to find anything about our dead man was a pain in the arse Albus. We couldn't find anything about him in our records so he definitely wasn't from Britain. And so we went along with the only other clue we had."
"The wand," Dumbledore cut in, "I take it that Ollivander gave you something if we are here."
"Exactly," Moody nodded, "You were right about the wood. Yew with Dragon Heartstring. Quite a normal wand, but again it wasn't registered in our records. Thank Merlin that Ollivander recognized who crafted the wand..."
Albus raised an eyebrow. That was quite surprising, while he knew that Garrick conversed with a few other wandmakers, he didn't know that he would be able to recognize their work right away... Just another area of magic that Dumbledore would never understand in his long life.
"Here Albus, take a look," Alastor said while handing the first file to Dumbledore.
The older wizard scanned the file from line to line and when he reached the end his shoulders visibly slumped. "Anthony Meyer, one of the few wandmakers that can be found in the United States. Garrick mentioned him a few times in our talks, but apart from that, I don't know anything about him. This just got a lot more complicated. MCUSA won't be happy when they find out about this."
A short snort brought his attention back to Madam Bones, "Surprisingly they were overly helpful when I contacted their Head of DMLE," she explained.
Dumbledore's surprise must have shown on his usually collected face as Alastor's booming laughter filled the room, "Oh trust me, I was surprised too. Bloody yanks immediately handed us everything after Amelia explained the situation. It appears that MCUSA had its own little problem a few years back. Of course, they outright demanded that we pass everything we find to them, but that's a low price if we can finally resolve this mystery."
Albus schooled his expression and turned to Amelia, "Truly? MCUSA isn't known for its cooperation with other governments. The ICW barely managed to convince them to abolish the Rappaport's Law in 1965 and then to establish contact with the muggle President a bit over a decade back."
Madam Bones gave a long sigh, "Indeed. The cooperation with MCUSA is usually strained so the change is very welcome. Their President changed at the end of the last year, so that might be the cause... Anyway, Alastor, the other file, please."
Moody nodded and handed the next file to Dumbledore. This time Albus read through the file quickly and palmed his face when he finished, "I can see what you meant by a little problem," he whispered as his gaze settled on the picture and personal information of the dead man found over a week ago.
Grant Hatcher, son of Lucas Hatcher a known supporter of Grindelwald when Gellert tried to gather forces in the United States. He survived the war and after twenty years had a son. Died a few years later to Dragon Pox. As soon as Grant finished his schooling, the man disappeared from MCUSA radar for almost twenty years.
No one knew what happened to Grant during this time and with the abolition of Rappaport's Law the magical community had much more freedom than before. And so everyone forgot about Hatcher's existence, at least until he appeared again in 1999 where he along with a few others attacked a muggle prisoner transport and then successfully escaped with the prisoners.
It was only thanks to the recently reestablished contact with the muggles that helped MCUSA deal with the fallout. Unfortunately, the ones responsible for the attack were never caught. At least one of the guards managed to survive long enough to give memories of the events. Without them, no one would ever know about Grant's contribution to the event.
"They really stopped the search for him and the others?" Albus finally questioned.
Amelia nodded, "According to their current Head of DMLE, back then they couldn't find them with magic and didn't want to push their cooperation with muggles. Not that I can't fault them, I doubt that we could have done much better even with our improved contact with muggle government."
"I see," Albus said with a sigh, "This is disturbing. A group of wizards saving muggle prisoners and then moving on kidnapping magical children in Europe? This doesn't make much sense. I take it that you want me to run this information through my contacts?"
Both Moody and Amelia gave a slight nod, "I could try to contact other Ministries, but it would take a lot of time. As the Supreme Mugwump of ICW, you can reach people faster than I, and what's most important, you can do it discreetly. Those people abducted magical children for ten years and I very much doubt that they don't have anyone inside some high places informing them of current ongoings in the wizarding world."
"Also," Amelia grimaced, "Alastor informed me that you planned on contacting the Director of SHIELD if nothing else worked."
Albus gave his old friend a look, but the scarred man only shrugged, "She is still my Boss Albus and we both know she won't run to Fudge with this."
Dumbledore sighed. His friend was quite right, but it didn't mean he was happy, "That was my plan. I don't know how much Director Fury can help, but at this point, I'll take any help I can get. Especially now that we have something."
"As much as it pains me, I agree," Amelia stated, "Even then I would like to be present during the meeting... If it comes to it of course. For now, I hope that this new information will give us the edge we needed."
"I hope so too," Albus murmured, "I hope so too..."
2nd of January, 2008, Location Unknown, Time: 16:50 GMT
...ake him up."
"Fuck," I gasped as water cascaded from my entire body. Fucking bastards. First, throw me into a dark cell, drug me with more shit than I ever tried in my last life. Then stab me in almost every place on my body while breaking a few of my bones because why not. And now you wake me up with a bucket of freezing water when I was just in the middle of self-reflecting semi-dream?
I understand you shitty, weird voice in my head. This is real, okay. I understand! Now, who is the bastard that drenched me with water?
"No need for such crude words, Mr. Hunt," a smooth American accented and male voice resounded through the room, "We're all friends here after all."
I looked up, wholly prepared to give the man the nastiest glare I could manage, but when I noticed the man's face I froze.
Short graying hair, small signs of aging, and those damned round glasses. It might have been a while since I saw the show, but I could still recognize one of the main villains of Agents of Shield.
Daniel Whitehall, one of the remaining leaders of Hydra. A psychopath with a love for mysteries. Obsessed with the obelisk of the Inhumans... Fucker even gutted Quake's mother and replaced his insides just to lengthen his life span. Why am I even surprised that he was the one responsible for research into the wizarding world...
This was just getting better and better...
I quickly returned to my previous plan of glaring at the man. No reason to make him even more interested in me with my reaction. I had no chance of knowing him before this meeting so if the Whitehall found out what I knew, I would be in deep shit.
"When my agents told me that they lost one person during their mission, I was curious," the Doctor continued, evidently not caring about my glare, "Over the past few years a lot of magical children passed our hands, but we never encountered someone who would try to fight back. Is it because you are an orphan? Because someone trained you? Or maybe you expected us to come after you?"
Yes and no, you sick bastard, I thought holding back a sneer. Remaining silent was the best course of action for now.
"Nothing to say," he hummed, "As expected. You are different from the others and I can't wait to find out why you are like that. Of course, we don't need to do this the hard way. My organization is always looking for new and competent workers and I am sure that you young man, will be perfect."
I lifted my gaze to meet Whithall's own eyes and gritted out, "No, thank you."
Like I would ever believe a word coming out from his mouth. Whitehall would get what he wanted from me and then go along with his previous plans. Oh, I had no doubts that he would love to get another magical in his ranks. But Whitehall would never accept someone who didn't go through Hydra's brainwashing process and I had no plans of making it easy for him.
"So be it," the man finally said after a long pause, "Just so you know that the offer still stands. And trust me it will be better if you change your decision sooner rather than later."
With that Whitehall raised from his chair and addressed the two guards by the door, "Take him to Subject Zero's cell. I am sure she will enjoy the company," As he reached the door, the doctor turned around to address me one more time, "I hope you will enjoy your stay here Mr. Hunt. After all, your arrival will finally move me closer to my goal."
As Whithall's tall form disappeared behind the door, one of the guards approached me and in one quick motion pushed me off my chair.
I landed on the wet floor and fired a string of curses internally when my still injured abdomen exploded in pain. My fists clenched and I quickly took a few calming breaths when I felt my magic reacting to my emotions.
Endure, don't show them what you are capable of. Not yet, I repeated those words in my mind as the fuckers dragged my weak body through a labyrinth of hallways. Maybe if I wasn't trying to calm my magic and block out the pain, I would try to remember the layout.
Finally, the guards stopped in front of simple but tough-looking steel doors. A quick click of keys unlocked them and the guards didn't waste any time to throw my unresponding body inside.
A loud thud echoed through my new room as the door shut down. I finally let my entire body relax a bit. Those past few days I spent in a semi-conscious state and today was the first time I could think straight...
I didn't know how long I just laid on the cool floor and probably would have stayed like that for the next few hours if a quiet rustling didn't reach my ears. At this moment I realized that Whitehall called this room "Subject Zero's cell".
Every part of my body screamed against it, but I ignored it and almost instantly raised to a crouching position, my eyes scanning the entire room.
The room was smaller than the one I met Whitehall in, emptier too. A small light bulb hung from the ceiling, illuminating the cell with dim lighting. Two dirty and worn-out mattresses laid in opposite corners while a simple loo stood in the third corner. Just lovely.
Finally, my eyes settled on the small girl that huddled in one of the corners, her wide brown eyes studied my every move like I would attack her in the next second. She looked three or two years younger than I and just like mine, her hair was filthy and black as night.
I looked a bit lower and my eyes widened when I noticed a collar around her neck that was engraved with endless runes. From this distance, I couldn't recognize most of them and I very much doubted that the girl would let me inspect them any time soon.
Still, the question remained, why was the girl wearing a magical collar?
That's it for today's chapter.
To be honest I am not that happy with it, especially the first scene. I tried to go a bit deeper into Logan's character, to show more of his hidden thoughts. Not sure if I succeeded, but I am of an opinion that this was necessary and will be important for the plot later on.
Next, now that everyone knows who kidnapped Logan I decided to give you a few more mysteries. The voice that Logan heard and our little Subject Zero.
The first mystery will remain just that, a mystery for a while, but Subject Zero will play an important role in this arc. I don't know about her role later on, but that's not important now. Besides, I will be happy to hear who or what do you think she is and why she is so important to Whitehall.
Apart from that, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Tell me what do you think and see you all in the next chapter. I am also curious to hear if any of you would like to see Grindelwald in this story. For now, I don't have any plans of adding him, but after reading and watching a few things about him, I thought his character was very interesting.
Have a good day/night.