A/N: True A/N at the end of this chapter, but i hope you enjoy this chapter
Harry was brought to one of Infinity's sick bay to be examined again to make sure that he would be good to operate on. On the way, Harry was surprised at how much more advanced the UNSC contrasted with the technology on Earth. He knew that of course, alone John's armor he wore while he patrolled Hogwarts was obviously nothing humanity could have produced for the foreseeable future. But as the magical world did not believe in the advancements that muggles made; some wizards thought that the armor had to be magical and be handed down the bloodline.
As Harry was walking through the corridors of the flagship in company of John, as Halsey and Selinsky were waiting for them in the sick bay. Harry was told the real history of the UNSC before coming to his universe. Harry of course knew that everything he saw right now was TOP SECRET. He almost pitied Voldemort when he would try to find out who the UNSC really is.
They soon arrived at their destination and Selinsky was waiting for them outside and typed in the code in the doors for them to enter. Inside the room, Catherine was already standing next to a table. Looking up from her tablet, she addressed Harry to explain what would happen now.. "So Harry, for the next few days we will augment your body: specifically your bones, injecting the structure with a solution that would make your bones stronger and almost indestructible. Also we will strengthen your joints so they could take on the strain by your increased weight after the augmentation. We will also see if you need the muscle growth augmentation if the mutation from your transformation to a Witcher is already sufficient. This also counts for the augmentation of your nervous system, as the mutation also seemed to have an impact on it. You can react faster than a normal human already, but for a Spartan you still seem a bit slow to react; we will test that and act accordingly. After all the augmentation is done, You will need to retrain your body so your body can adapt to the changes, as you will be faster and stronger. After this is done, we will give you your new armor, and then begin again as it enhances your abilities. Do you understand?"
Harry nodded and was led to the machine that had multiple syringes on robotic arms. Selinsky asked him to change his clothes so the augmentation could proceed without complications and then lay down on the table under it. He would grow exponentially and for that his old clothes were not suited for it. Selinsky brought a suit out of a closet nearby that would fit Harry and stretch enough to be comfortable. Harry walked to the space where he could change his clothes with the suit.
After Harry had come back wearing the medical suit he laid down on the table; Selinsky strapped Harry's arms and legs down and activated the machine. Selinsky then pointed to the small camera above the table. "This is a scanner that will scan your body, so the machine knows where to put the syringes and and inject the chemical components to your bone mass. Your AI will observe your vital signs and adjust the machine, if necessary. Now for it to work properly you need to be awake for the procedure. It can hurt, but it will be done soon. Are you ready?"
Harry was a bit nervous when he was strapped down on the table, but he nodded and watched the needles that moved after he nodded. He listened to the small electrical servos in the arms around him when they closed in on his body. He soon felt the needles piercing his skin and felt the liquid enter his body. Harry began to scream because of the pain, as he felt like his bones and muscles were stretched beyond their breaking point before being knitted together again. The sensation did not end as soon as he had hoped, but after an hour the needles retreated from his body and Harry felt his body relax.
Moving his body did hurt when he tried to lift his arm to see one of the places where the needles pierced his skin. He then was reminded by the feelings around his wrists and ankles that he was still strapped to the operation table and moved his head to look around. When he found Catherine, he opened his mouth to speak, but even that hurt him a little. "How long do I have to lay here?"
Catherine looked down at her tablet and tapped some buttons on it. "At least for another hour, as your healing factor from the Witcher mutation accelerates the procedure tremendously. But we want to make sure that everything went to plan, so we wait for four more hours. Your body needs to heal from what just happened; your muscles were stretched to a point where they almost snapped. It is the same for your bones, they also need some time to heal up enough for you to stand on your own feet. And before you ask, when we did this kind of augmentation on the older Spartans, they had to endure almost a full day on those tables before they could safely move again without causing themselves discomfort." Catherine didn't mention not all of the 75 original Spartan IIs survived the process. She's just thankful that ONI has improved the process to increase chances of survival without risk of side effects.
This explanation seemed to satisfy Harry, as he laid his head back on the little cushion that was on the table for his head. He then closed his eyes and deliberately breathed slowly and deeply to start his meditation that he had learned from Geralt. He often used this technique to accelerate the perceived time. A nice side effect was that Harry did not feel the pain as strongly and before he knew it, the pain had subsided completely.
John was walking through the barracks for the S-Deck of the Infinity, looking for his old team. He was told by Cortana that their assignment in their home dimension had finished and that they had decided to come here and join him. But he had to wonder how they would integrate themselves into this environment.
When John arrived at the training area, he heard cheering from the small arena that was placed here for close quarters combat training. Looking up to the ring, he saw 5 Spartan IVs in sparring against one man. John recognized the single man immediately who just threw one of his opponents over his shoulder and grabbed another one.
Looking over at the spectators, John soon found the other two members of Blue team.
Kelly-087 and Linda-058, as they still wanted to be called even in peacetime, watched their teammate, Federick-104, showing the Spartan IVs why he was the best close quarter fighter in the Spartan II program. He threw the IVs over his shoulder and incapacitated them by knocking them unconscious.
Linda noticed the man arriving at the arena and almost sprung up from her seat. Kelly was surprised by her sister's reaction, until she also saw John coming over to them. It had been over 10 years since they had last seen their brother, just after John had decided to stay here and train a young boy. The rest of the Blue team was ordered to go back to their own dimension and had been on mission after mission to make sure that the rest of the Covenant that was still aggressive against humanity and their new allies, the Sword of Sanghelios.
Now, being on the same ship again, it felt almost like the time was turned back to the moment they were on their first mission. The image was even more accurate because John was wearing his armor with his helmet on. Linda almost ran over to John and embraced him into a hug, something rather uncharacteristic for a Spartan II. But all the peace time allowed them to regain their own humanity and leave the old machine-like mentality behind them.
John was just a little bit surprised at this gesture, but thanks to his time with Triss he was used to it. As he hugged her back, it was Linda's turn to be surprised. She was even more surprised when she heard his voice from the speakers in his helmet. "It is good to see you, Linda. How are you doing? I see that Fred is still the maniac he was when fighting up close."
Linda wanted to make sure that this man was indeed her brother, but when she received a ping from Cortana with their position right in front of her, Linda relaxed. Stepping away from the embrace, she lifted her hands and removed her helmet. Now smiling at John, she nodded and turned towards the ring. "Oh, you know it, John. He asked some Spartan IVs if they had gotten any better since last time and the next thing we knew was that they entered the ring with some training knives. As for your other question, I am good but what about you? You seem so relaxed." Linda turned her head back and gave John a questioning look with a raised brow.
John did not copy Linda and kept his helmet on. "I am good, thank you. If you kept your helmet on, you would see my little green square on your display." This sentence was more in jest, as he grinned under his helmet at Linda's flabbergasted expression. They then were interrupted by another Spartan, as Kelly stood next to Linda and crossed her arms behind her back. "John, good to see you. I'm guessing there is a reason why you came to the Infinity. Is it time for us to go to the planet with you?"
John nodded, and watched Fred how his sparring went and showed to the younger Spartan generation why it was still not possible to defeat a Spartan II. After every Spartan IV that participated in the small exercise laid on the mat around Fred, he stored the training knife in its sheath and walked over to the small table on the outside of the ring where he put down the knife. Thanking the Spartans for the workout, Fred looked around and soon found his teammates all in the same place and smiled when he saw John standing in the middle of the other two. It really was like old times, but when they caught each other up on the newest happenings around them it would only show that they need each other more than they realized until now.
A few hours later, Selinsky removed the restraints from Harry's wrists and ankles and told him to move very slowly. Harry followed that advice as he could feel how his muscles still were a bit sore from the ordeal they were put through. Catherine was still looking at the tablet and read through the readouts from the machine that had injected Harry with the chemicals for the augmentation.
As Harry stood up, he noticed how much smaller Doctor Halsey seemed in comparison from before the augmentation. Asking Callie in his mind if this was an optical illusion after the pain subsided, she answered him with a small sentence that shocked him. "No Harry, you grew almost a foot in height. It sure will be noticed by the others when they see you. But luckily, a growth spurt is not completely out of left field for a boy at your age, so they will hopefully not ask many questions."
Satisfied with Callie's answer, Harry deliberately moved slowly after the two scientists out the room and towards a small room with a bed and a small table next to it. Catherine showed Harry where he could store his belongings for the time being. "Let your body relax a bit more in here, John will come tomorrow and begin your training to get you used to the new strength and speed as well your new height. When that is finished, just like I already had told you, we'll move onto the next phase, your new armor. The plan is that we will be finished with everything by the end of next week. Now sleep well, you will need it."
The next few days showed Harry that he was not prepared to be like John or his fellow Spartans. As soon as Harry was asleep after his augmentation, it seemed that John and his old team were out for his blood. The first training session was an obstacle course, but this time it was not in a straight line, but Harry also had to climb to a platform and then climb over a rope bridge and all of the while John threw things at him to which he had to evade too. After that, Fred took him to a small field and trained him in hand-to-hand combat techniques Harry never had seen. Harry was better with a sword, but only until Fred came to close for him to move before the knife was at his throat. That was only one of the lessons Harry was taught from the most decorated Spartan team next to the advanced firearms training he received from Linda. Kelly meanwhile showed him that he still could be faster than the others while he got used to the new abilities his body offered him.
One day as Harry was shooting on the firing range on the Infinity, Selinsky and Halsey came by and told Harry to follow them. Harry saw the smile on Catherine's face and wondered if it really was now time for him to receive his new armor. Callie was no help the last few days, as Catherine had asked him for the matrix the morning after his augmentation, so Harry had no chance to talk with his partner.
The two scientists led him to the armory, where Harry had seen the different kinds of uniforms and armors for the marines, but there was always a door that was closed, and sentries stood by either side of it. While John and the others of Blue team smiled knowingly at the symbol painted on the door when they were there with him, the other marines told him, in the mess hall, that this door was never opened for them, only for Spartans. One marine even joked that Harry had to prove himself a true Spartan before he would be allowed to enter the room.
Now standing in front of the door, the sentries looked at them and one of them pushed the button to open the door and allow them to enter. Stepping over the threshold, Harry saw what could only be described as a true hive of activity. All over the room were multiple machines like John had in his office at Hogwarts, to remove and put on armor. Harry recognized a set of armor a bit further down the hall as the one by Commander Palmer. Harry knew that she had returned to her former post after John came back to Hogwarts.
Selinsky and Dr. Halsey led Harry further down the lines of Spartan IVs in their armor, who watched them with great interest, at least the ones Harry could see their faces. They soon arrived at another door, where Harry read on the doors were a laboratory just as Selinsky put his access code into the keypad next to it to open the doors. Halsey kept walking, so Harry followed her into the new room. In there, he saw a set of armor hanging in the same contraption he had seen outside. From this armor were multiple cables leading to multiple displays around it.
But that was not the only thing strange in this room. He turned towards Catherine with a question. "Dr. Halsey, what are those floating bags? Are those aliens like the Arbiter?" Harry pointed to the being floating over the machine with the armor and its tentacles were probing different parts of said armor.
Catherine looked to where Harry pointed, realizing that Harry has not been introduced to Huragoks and explained to Harry what they were. "These are Huragok Harry, living supercomputers made by a civilization even more advanced than ours. This one helped us with this project, a new prototype battle armor. To be more precise, your armor Harry. Let me introduce you to GUNGNIR, the Spear of Odin from North mythology to the Spartan's MJOLNIR, the Hammer of Thor."
Harry looked away from the Huragok and turned towards the armor suspended by the machine. From the outside it looked like a mix from the armor sets that John and Michael wore. The helmet was just like John's MJOLNIR Mark IV armor except instead of a golden visor, this one was a deep blue color. Looking a bit lower, Harry saw that it was much sleeker than John's armor is, more like the armor Micheal has. Looking over all the compartments and hardpoints where someone could attach something, Harry noticed that something was engraved inside the arms and thighs. Looking at it closer, he recognized the runes that were like his expanded trunk he used for school, thanks to the rune classes he had taken in Hogwarts Harry was able to understand the purpose of the runes he wondered why the runes were placed there. But looking at it closer, he noticed something else. "What kind of metal is this? It seems to move around."
This question was directed towards Selinsky, who had built this armor under instruction from Halsey, but the materials were his choice. "It is the same titanium alloy as the MJOLNIR and SPI armor the Spartan III used, but we were successful in implementing a true marvel of technology. It is a hard light shield that, at least to the simulations, can withstand a tank shell at point blank range without letting the shell through. Of course, the kinetic force would still throw you back at least a few yards, but you would at least be alive. And if you ask yourself how you would equip this armor, that is something we will explain to you after you have put it on. First, we need you to be outfitted with the inner suit every Spartan needs to fully use the armor's functions. It allows the wearer to interact with the armor as well let the machine attach the armor in the correct places. Over there." Selinsky pointed to a row of cabinets which seemed to have all sizes of the suit Harry would need.
Grabbing the first suit that seemed to be his size, Harry put it on and found out that it adjusted to his body to fit like a second skin. When it even changed colors so it would be invisible to the naked eye he wondered if John had his under suit always on him. Harry was sure that John at least took it off sometimes, how else would he use the bathroom.
After Harry had returned to the two scientists, he was instructed to enter the machine.
In that moment, the machine activated itself and moved the parts of the armor around so Harry could step into it. Harry saw the boots of the armor on the ground before him and placed his feet inside them, to which they snapped shut. Looking over to the handles, he grabbed them with his hands and soon the machine turned around and moved Harry in a better position so the machine could attach the different pieces of armor to the points on his suit. Harry felt the weight for a short moment before the machine turned him around again so it could attach the next piece.
Before Harry knew it, he was back upright, and the helmet was lowered onto his head. He was used to looking through a visor thanks to the modified marines battle armor he was given after they had found out about the basilisk under Hogwarts, but this was something completely different. While the marines; armor still was kind of open under the visor, here his head was completely enclosed in metal and at first it frightened Harry a bit.
Harry then heard the armor booting up and showing him all the system checks it does to ensure that it was functioning correctly. One line caught him a bit off guard, as it read that there was no AI chip inserted into the helmet. Now missing Callie even more, he heard Catherine telling him to step off the machine so they could take a last reading of it before Harry would go back to his training with John. As he thought of moving his legs, the armor moved for him much faster than Harry had anticipated. It hurt a little when the armor moved a bit too fast, but it was nothing he could not handle. He would just have to move more deliberately so the armor would not overstress his body.
Harry saw that he seemed to be even bigger than before, but he knew that John also gained a few inches when he was in armor, so Harry just internally shrugged. But then, he saw the small arrow in his visor, pointing to his left.. Turning to his left, he saw that the arrow pointed to a small, unassuming case on the table next to him. Walking over to the spot, he asked Catherine why this case was calling him.
Catherine noticed that Harry looking at the small case and smiled. "It seems that you are not the only one who has gotten anxious to be apart from each other Harry. How she gained access to your new armor even before she was inserted into the slot in your helmet only shows that we made the right call to upgrade her even further. Go on, she is waiting for you."
Harry tried to move his arm to grab the case. But just as he had experienced before, the armor moved for him, so Harry deliberately moved slowly to grab the case so he would not damage it. When he opened the case, there was a chip inside it, like the one Cortana inhabited. It was bigger than the matrix he had before, but somehow, he knew what to do. He grabbed the chip, and his hand soon found the slot that Catherine mentioned before, where he inserted the chip.
A new line appeared on Harry's visor's HUD.
NEW AI FOUND, ADJUSTING SETTINGS,
After that line vanished, he waited for a while before he gulped and just hoped that it really was her. "Callie?"
His visor's HUD began to show more things like a radar on the corner, but the place where Callie normally displayed herself in his glasses was still empty. Looking over his shoulder to ask Catherine if something was wrong, he was surprised to see another person between the two scientists.
"Those hard light projectors can be used for far more than just protecting you, Harry. How do you like my new look?" Callie turned around, showing him that she had decided to honor the occasion and change her appearance. She was now wearing sturdy boots, tight jeans with a pistol holstered on her hip, finishing the look with another leather jacket over a white top. On the back of the leather jacket was a dragon circling around a phoenix. Her hair was bound to a ponytail, showing that she now also displayed earrings on her earlobes. All in all, she looked like a rebellious teenager from an American movie, but Harry did not complain.
Harry smiled under his helmet, knowing full well that Callie could see his face even through his helmet. "You look good Callie, but I am just happy to have you back. But Catherine said something about upgrades, so I guess there is more than just your look and your ability to use the projectors in the armor?"
Callie nodded happily. "Yes, I am now a true, smart AI according to the UNSC standards. Cortana and I now have the same processing power. Before I was just a bit smarter than Luke or Sissi, but as you now are a Spartan, it was decided to upgrade me and make sure that I can assist you when you are in your armor just like Cortana helped John. Now I think we need some training to complete so we are combat ready."
After leaving the Spartan armory Harry was standing at the start of another obstacle course. He was also wearing his armor and Callie was displayed in his HUD. They both waited for the signal to start the course.
In the observation room for the course, Catherine, John and Selinsky were preparing the equipment used to see how the runner did. Cortana was displaying herself on a pedestal right next to the control board. After they all had checked that everything on the course was in working order, Catherine gave the starting signal.
They saw Harry sprinting to his top speed of 50 mph, surprising Selinsky. "He is faster than Spartan Kelly–087" Selinsky looked at the speedometer that was tracking Harry and saw it was holding at 50mph. It was well known that Kelly-082 can run at 38.5 mph.
Just in that moment, the automated turrets turned to fire on Harry. John saw Harry pulling out his pistol and taking the turrets out before they even could take a single shot on him.
John nodded, watching Harry running towards the next obstacle. "Yes, he is fast and precise. We trained him well."
Harry arrived at the next obstacle, a hole in the ground followed by a minefield. Catherine watched Harry jump, much higher then she would have anticipated. On the highest point of his jump, the observers saw a hard light glider appearing in Harry's hands above his head.
Cortana laughed when she watched Harry and Callie creating another use to the problem in front of them. "Of course, they would find something to fly with. Harry is just so obsessed with being in the air that even in his armor he will find a way to stay airborne."
Catherine was watching Harry gliding towards the ground just behind the minefield. Turning towards Selinsky, she was wondering if he thought the same thing as she did. "You know Dr. Selinsky, if we could implement this technology into the next generation of Spartan armor, they could infiltrate an enemy base in absolute silence. You need to find a way to convince HIGHCOM to invest more resources into this project."
Just moments later, Harry crossed the finishing line. Catherine brought her attention back to the time Harry had achieved. John stood beside her and looked at her on the display. Catherine smiled when she was reminded of an event in the past. "Well look at that John, he beat your when you were running this course for the first time after receiving Cortana."
John nodded, proud of what Harry had achieved in the two weeks they were on the Infinity. John and Blue team had trained in much harsher conditions when he was Harry's age, but John also had trained for much longer than Harry before he had ran this course the first time in his MJOLNIR armor with Cortana. John then pressed the button for the intercom to address Harry. "Well done Harry, prepare for your next session with Fred, who will be going over what he has taught you already but you'll both be wearing your armor."
Harry nodded and left the obstacle course and followed Callie's nav points to where Fred was waiting for him.
In the observation room John turned back to Halsey a thought. "Given how much faster Harry is, even faster than Kelly, do you think he could benefit with her brand of high speed combat?"
Halsey had a thoughtful look as she considered this question. Nodding slowly she answered. "She is the only one qualified to teach him to truly utilize their speed."
A few days later, Harry was almost finished with the training that John and the rest of Blue team had planned for him to get used to the augmentation and his new armor, which was revealed to be made out of nanomachines, that could compress itself into a bracelet on Harry's wrist. How it was still strong enough to withstand a tank shell was surprising, but at least Harry could deploy the armor as soon as he needed it. According to the intelligence, that time could come sooner than they had hoped.
Harry was preparing himself to fly one of the Sabre's, just as Captain Mitchell told him to do. It was time to show how good Harry could adapt to something he never flew before. He had some simulator hours for this space fighter but flying it for real in space was completely different.
Activating the engines, Harry checked all the instruments to see if the bird worked fine. Satisfied with the results, Harry asked Callie if she was ready for a small trip into space. Hearing that she was literally born ready for space, he chuckled and opened the thrusters after being cleared to take off.
Now howering out the hangar, Harry checked the controls as soon as he left the magnetic field to see if the bird reacted the same way as in the simulations. Satisfied, he soon heard the beep from the communications system that signaled an incoming transmission. Callie opened the channel, and soon they heard the voice of Captain Mitchell, callsign Maverick. "Welcome to the real flying school kid. We will firstly just fly a bit around, so you can familiarize yourself with the Sabre. After that, we will try some combat maneuvers and then we will do a simulated dogfight. Do you understand?"
Harry answered his confirmation that he had understood and flew to his position on the right side of Maverick. Turning and rolling, they soon had done all the maneuvers Maverick wanted to see.
Maverick's voice was with begrudging approval, he almost didn't think the kid could pick this up so fast on his first real flight. "Very good kid, now we will disengage from each other, and as soon as the signal is given, we will try to shoot at each other. The first one with enough simulated damage loses. Ready?"
Harry pulled away and looked around, seeing the Infinity floating in silence behind the moon. It was his home for the past two weeks, and somehow, he felt strange to leave it again to head back to his true home. But before he could think about this more, he heard the signal and pushed the throttle to full power just as Callie told him that he just evaded some shots right behind them. Pulling on the stick, he turned the Sabre around to see Maverick speeding towards him, guns blazing.
Harry was quick enough to also evade another salvo before he pulled the trigger on the stick to open fire on his own. They both missed as they flew past each other, but Harry used the same techniques that he used on his broom. Knowing that it worked the same way, he now questioned it as the Sabre just made a 180 turn on the same spot even if it was at top speed before.
Maverick blinked in surprise when he heard the alarm blaring in his Sabre when Harry locked on at his bird. Taking evasive maneuvers, the alarm soon ended as Harry seemed to have lost the lock on his Sabre. Turning around, Maverick tried to find Harry's bird to lock on again, but when his alarm blared again as soon as he flew a bit in a straight line, he evaded the next salvo from Harry. Maverick muttered to himself, "Where the hell did he go?" Maverick was confused why he couldn't get a visual of the kid.
On the bridge of the Infinity, Lasky was watching the exchange between the two fighters. With him was the commander of the fighters on the Infinity, and Lasky noticed him becoming nervous. Lasky guessed that it was because his best fighter pilot was losing against a beginner in the same craft, even if it was a new Spartan in the other Sabre.
Lasky soon heard the commander ordering the rest of the Maverick's squadron to join the exercise, causing Lasky to turn away from the holographic table. "Don't you think you are overreacting a bit, Commander?"
The commander turned back to the table after he had given the order to scramble. "Not really, now this Spartan can show how he fights against changing odds. And at the same time, it gives my pilots the opportunity to stretch their wings."
Outside the Infinity, Harry tried to hit Maverick again, but he soon heard Callie telling him that there were now multiple targets flying towards them. "But those are also Sabres from Maverick's fighter wing. Roland also updated the exercise parameters; it seems that their commander ordered the rest of Maverick's squadron to take us down. Our main goal now is to survive as long as we can. And if we can score hits on some of them, it will be a bonus. What do you think?"
Maverick groaned when he realized he was no longer doing a one on one dogfighter. "Oh I am never going to live this down. But might as well give my pilots something to do than just sit on their asses." Keying the comms to squad channell Maverick got to business. "Alright boys and girls, we have a rookie who seems to be too damned good at this and I mean too damned good. So watch yourself he's fucking unpredictable."
Harry grinned under his helmet. "What do I think? If you would fly this bird, you would at least hit two of them before your Sabre would be destroyed. Let's see how many I can hit." Turning his Sabre towards the new targets, he opened fire and soon one of the indicators changed the color in his HUD, showing that he had just 'killed' an opponent. Harry knew that this was a lucky shot, as he was not in range to hit his target reliably.
Now evading the counterattack, Harry flew away from the others using a well practiced Quidditch maneuver, while Maverick was groaning at the tone that told him one of his squad's fighters was "killed". "Oh for fuck's sakes! I did warn you he was unpredictable. I'll admit that I underestimated him. He flies the Sabre like he uses his broom on Earth. We will need to see his telemetry data and use it to modify our own tactics." Just as Mitchell ended that sentence, another Sabre was hit and they saw Harry fly past them with great speed.
Another pilot cursed about how this Spartan could surprise them again and flew after him, another mistake made by this experienced fighter pilot as Harry used his now signature move move again and turned on the spot. And while his Sabre now flew backwards from the momentum, Harry's salvo hit its mark and incapacitated another opponent.
Harry himself evaded as much fire as he could, all the while he scored hits on two other Sabres. But when he acquired the second to last target, his alarms were going off, telling him that he was "hit" in the engines. Slowing down, he accepted the defeat. As they were flying back to the Infinity, Maverick flew right beside him and gave Harry a thumbs up.
Soon they landed in the Hangar and Harry shut down his engines after he touched down. Climbing out of the seat, he heard many hands clapping and cheers all around him. Mitchell came over to him and held out his hand. "That was a good exercise kid. You have to teach me how you did all these crazy things in the Sabre, theoretically some of these moves should not be possible even in space."
Harry laughed and grasped the offered hand. "Well Captain, some things cannot be explained or taught, but it might surprise you that some of those maneuvers were from Quidditch; mostly it was just instinct taking over. Now if you excuse me, I need to go back to my room and pack my stuff. My time here comes to an end for now, but maybe I will come back next year for a rematch."
As Harry walked through the hanger next to Mitchell, he noticed John and another man standing next to each other. When they turned towards Harry, the new Spartan knew that they were waiting for him. Mitchell also noticed the Master Chief and the ONI spook and also had a feeling that he wasn't going to get a full debrief on the kid's flying. Mitchell patted Harry's shoulder and told him he'll talk to him later, hopefully.
Harry nodded and made his way over to John and the newcomer. "I get the feeling packing will have to wait." John gave a subtle nod and another man spoke up.
"I must say Mr. Potter, when Captain Mitchell and Lasky put in the request to see you in a Sabre I didn't think you would show up UNSC's best combat fighter. But then again, you were employing Witcher and Quidditch tactics so that shouldn't surprise me. My name is Smith, and I'd like you and the Master Chief to join me for a briefing, Captain Lasky will be waiting there for us." With that simple explanation Mr Smith led the two Spartans out of the hangar to a waiting elevator that would take them up to an ONI briefing room.
Mr. Smith typed in a code into a door that opened for them. Inside Captain Lasky was sitting at the front of the room reading over a tablet, he stood up and congratulated Harry on his flying skills, he was very impressed. Lasky gestured to the two Spartans to take a seat and Smith started the briefing.
Smith thanked Lasky and turned to Harry with a smile. "I don't believe you were made aware but ONI, Office of Naval Intelligence, has been keeping a very close eye on Death Eater activities especially when we got word of Trelwany's second prophecy. Unfortunately we have not yet identified which Death Eater has gone looking for his master but we have a solid lead on what is drawing him back to Britain. Are you aware of what is going on at Hogwarts this coming September?" Smith gave Harry a questioning look.
Harry frowned as he thought about what was going on at Hogwarts but shook his head. "John only tells me what I need to know. I know Moody is being called in for the DADA post since Triss wants to stay in Kear Morhen to help Yen with Katrina." Harry gave John a questioning look.
John nodded slowly. "Triwizard Tournament. Dumbledore tipped off Captain Lasky who in turn set ONI loose to investigate the organizers behind it. Dumbledore suspected Voldemort would find out somehow and use the tournament for something."
Harry frowned at hearing this. "Wasn't that discontinued due to the death toll?"
Smith nodded which drew Harry's attention back to him. "Yes, and it seems Fudge is using it to gain some 'popularity'" Smith rolled his eyes as he made the air quotes. He was not a fan of Fudge. "Fudge has directed the Departments of Magical Games and Sports and International Magical Cooperation to oversee and organize the Tournament." On the monitor behind Smith two men were shown on the screen. "On the left is Ludovic, 'Ludo', Bagman, former beater for Wimbourne Wasps, now current head of Department of Magical Games and Sports. Mr. Bagman has a major gambling debt with Gringotts and we believe he will use the tourment to recoup his losses." Smith gave Harry a direct look. "If you happen across him at the Quidditch World Cup, don't bother betting with him even if you place a winning bet. Odds are he'll give you leprechaun gold instead of galleons."
Harry snorted as if he could be fooled by leprechaun gold.
Smith ignored Harry's reaction and pressed on with the briefing. "On the right is someone you might be more familiar with. Bartemius, 'Barty', Crouch Sr." Smith was correct when he saw Harry glaring at the picture behind him. "Yes, the same man who sent your godfather to Azkaban without a trial. It should be noted he also sent his son, Bartemius Crouch Jr., to prison for being part of the group who attacked the Longbottoms. We do not know how credible it was that his son was a marked Death Eater as he died shortly in Azkaban. But the fallout of his son being outed as a Death Eater had Crouch resigning from his post as the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. However Fudge tapped him to take on International Magical Cooperation due to Crouch's extensive language skills." Smith paused as he considered his next words. "While as the head of DMLE Crouch was rather ruthless in his zeal to catch and convict Death Eaters. We do not know if he has toned down that zeal today but anything is possible."
Harry nodded slowly as he processed that. "So don't trust Crouch any more than I should trust Bagman?"
Smith nodded. "Indeed, both have questionable pasts and Bagman's debt leaves him easy to manipulate. But what does concern us is the disappearance of this woman." On the screen behind Smith Harry saw a chubby middle aged witch with shifty eyes as she looked around for gossip. "Bertha Jorkins, a liaison between DMGS and DIMC has disappeared a week ago while on holiday in Romania." Smith consulted his tablet to check his notes. "What is intriguing about Ms Jorkins disappearance is Crouch is wondering why Bagman hasn't sent anyone to look for her but Bagman is unconcerned. It should also be noted Ms Jorkins has all the details of the Triwizard Tournament If one of Voldemort's Death Eaters happens upon her and finds out of the intelligence she has, it's strong likelihood that the Death Eater will use her as a bargaining chip to gain favors with his or her master."
Harry sat back and groaned. "And Voldemort will use that information, to what? Put me in the tournament?" Harry asked sarcastically.
For the first time during the briefing Lasky spoke up with a grim and bitter tone. "Yes, that is exactly what we think will happen." Seeing Harry's stunned look, Lasky continued. "This is why I gave the approval, per HIGHCOM's approval, to green light your augmentation and construction of GUNGNIR armor. We want you to be prepared not if, but when Voldemort comes back."
Harry sighed in resignation knowing this was something he couldn't avoid. Looking over to John who saw him watching him. "Is this why you and Blue team have been pushing me so hard?"
John nodded. "You may not have been trained like us, to fight the Covenant or Insurrectionists although the former was happenstance we all understood that as a Witcher you would be able to handle Voldemort on your own terms, but why stop there if you can go beyond what a Witcher is capable of."
Smith nodded his agreement having done an in depth study of Witchers. "Indeed. For that reason we have come up with a contingency that will be enacted if your name comes out of the Goblet of Fire." Seeing Harry's confused look Smith elaborates. "The Goblet of Fire is the impartial judge who will pick the champions that represent the schools." Seeing Harry's nod of understanding Smith continued. "In the event your name comes out Callie will spread the word, starting with you, with the code phrase 'It's time to unleash the wolf'. In other words, Mr. Potter, it'll be time to go public with your status as a Witcher." Smith smiled apologetically.
Lasky continued with the explanation of this contingency. "Think of it this way Harry. No one has seen a Witcher as young as you. No one knows of their full capabilities, In short, coming out as a Witcher hides that you have Spartan augmentation. Everyone will think it's all due to being a Witcher."
Harry thought about that for a moment and nodded in understanding. "Hiding in plain sight." Lasky and Smith both nodded. "But I can't use the GUNGNIR armor during the tournament, that would draw too much attention." Harry pointed out the flaw to this plan.
Smith shook his head and waved his hand dismissively. "Don't worry about that. We'll just set you up with another custom marine armor."
Callie took this time to appear next to Harry with a question of her own. "I don't mean to interrupt but if Harry is going public as a Witcher he'll have to ditch the glasses. GUNGNIR has to be deployed for me to utilize the sensors on the armor. So I will be relegated to my old matrix." Callie frowned, crossing her arms hoping she wouldn't be so reduced.
Smith looked to Lasky as he was the final say for any new technology release. Lasky nodded to Smith giving the ONI agent the go ahead. Smith turned back to Callie with a slow nod. "That may be true but ONI has been working on a covert sensor package in the form of a watch for some time, it's just going through final testing before we release it to ONI agents." We have until Halloween to finish up that testing." Smith looked to Harry to explain. "That's when the champions are chosen."
In a forest in Albania, a hooded figure was walking through the bushes, a witch wearing torn robes walked just behind him with a glazed look in her eyes. The hooded figure stopped and searched the ground for some tracks to follow.
Just then, something felt different from before. His arm began to feel as if it was on fire. Pulling back a sleeve, he saw his Dark Mark becoming darker again.
Looking around, the hooded figure soon found what he was looking for. A ghost-like creature was hovering just a few feet away from him and the witch. A creepy smile grew on the faze of the Wizard. "Finally found you, Master."
A/N: Thank you all who did read this chapter.
HowinMadeHowie deserves the credit for the scene where Harry sits in the briefing room with John and Lasky, as well some of the finer details.
He had a better understanding how these things work, so i am glad that he took up the challenge to write that section
So have a good day and until the next chapter