Chapter 25: Yellow Box Blues
Date: Thursday, 11th November 2010
Time: 12-30 PM IST, Lotus Temple, New Delhi
A cool November breeze comforted the skins of Neville and Veena before they made their way down to the cold basement. At the window, they saw a Robin pecking the green leaves. Despite the gravity of the mission, both Neville and Veena paused to watch it before Veena said, "Hermione would have frozen this moment with her magic camera. She appreciates everything about Nature and lesser humans."
Neville nodded, "Well said, Veena. I am one of those."
"Indeed you are, being one of only 3 experts in Force Fields barring Athena and Myself. Stop underestimating your worth Neville."
Neville smiled, "Hermione will often chide me this way. It seems mentor's aura gets transferred to the mentee."
"If only I could be with her forever rather than just for this single mission!"
"Fret not, Veena because if we screw up with the bomb, today will be the last day for all of us. If we don't (probably), the mission will be long enough to forge a permanent bond between you both, irrespective of missions."
Veena smiled, "You are right about that. After all, we are dealing with the cream of the dark side. There will certainly be repercussions of our actions here today."
They continued their walk down the basement, both wizards testing the air with their wands.
The discovery of the weapon was proving to be far trickier than they expected. Hermione communicated to them that they above the ground were now discovered by the Dark Cream and fighting had commenced.
Neville sighed, "I expected a change in force-field color once we entered the basement but here also the same color exists. It is puzzling as to where they can keep the weapon."
"I know, this is both tiring and frustrating. At least Athena can keep them safe while we search."
"Yes, that is a relief, Veena," agreed Neville.
"I remember a story where a man searches everywhere for lost treasure but in a dream it is finally revealed that the treasure is in his own backyard. One should be sure of where to look."
Veena stared at Neville before smiling an angelic smile, "That's it, Neville. You are a genius. All this time, we are searching out for a different stronger or weaker force-field that changes color when in proximity with neighboring forces. We need to look for ABSENCE of force field. Any force field has electromagnetic components that can react with the nuclear weapon, making it risky for an unplanned explosion. The safest way is to create a vacuum field surrounding the weapon. Obviously, the trick would be to disguise that area with extra force field cover. Unless the opponent is a genius and does not wish to leave obvious clues, our work is very easy. You wait here, Neville. I will fly out on my broom and survey the area."
Veena fetched her broom with a spell, an impressive Nimbus 9000. She carefully surveyed the area and then whistled, "We have an absolute genius here. The force fields are arranged in perfect squares and no one area is different from any other. I must check all 250 squares. Please convey this to Hermione."
Neville did this immediately and Hermione sent back an empathetic message, understanding their situation perfectly. Hermione gave them all the time they needed.
After 3 hours of hard work, they finally found the spot that was vacuum. It was Veena who suggested that they play a trick, after racking her brains for more than 100 minutes. Any security mechanism was designed to spot an intrusion using the body heat but if they could trick the system, they had a chance. If she entered the field, the unfamiliar body heat will trigger an avalanche of force fields following her EXCEPT for the spot covering the bomb. Neville would then mark that area permanently with their own patented invention: force area marker. The third party to this patent was Athena. They did exactly this and in 20 more minutes, they neutralized the force field covering the bomb. They discovered that it was not the bomb but that the bomb itself was encased in a chamber. As they carefully opened the door to the chamber, they finally found the Hydrogen Bomb encased in a solid steel container.
Finding the bomb was their first but important victory, for which Hermione and the ground team congratulated them wordlessly. Going with her instincts, Athena went in with 3 shields instead of 4, taking into account the humidity.
Things were not going too well on the ground. The core cream of the dark world was equally intelligent, brave, united and strong as Hermione and her group. They had declared right at the outset that killing was not their motive but they were able enough to defend their position. Nathan was leading the charge and he challenged Harry and Draco to an air battle. He may not kill Harry but he could definitely disable him. He sneered at Hermione as to what would happen to her Mission if her main generals were permanently maimed? Luna answered that he was making a fundamental mistake of underestimating women. Women hardly committed themselves but when they did, it was full in. If Hermione had resolved to honor the wishes of Jack, she would do so until her last breath, even if she was the last person standing on the battleground. Her future self had proven that in 2006.
Nathan and Wolff bowed to Hermione and Athena but said that despite their bravery, they would still need to face challenges from both of them, as they were leading the dark side. It was nothing personal that they had against Hermione, just group loyalty. Personally, Hermione was their joint inspiration.
Draco and Harry took to the air and they started their duel with Wolff and Nathan. In all the years since Hogwarts, both Draco and Harry never felt more exhilaration, flying as they were in Private collector Nimbus 30000 in full speed and throwing spells at Nathan and Wolff, who were equally good at deflecting them.
Back under ground, Veena and Neville were out of their depths regarding method to defuse the bomb. It was the most complex system that they had ever encountered. There was not a single wire but the bomb timer kept running. After detecting their presence, the bomb started a 1 hour reverse countdown. This was clearly a backup mechanism if the force field was compromised. Some mechanism was feeding the bomb timer but it was not wires. Veena admired the intelligence of her opponents but then immediately focused on her current assignment.
It was Blast minus 30 minutes now. Veena and Neville were sweating and at wit's end on defusing the bomb. Veena tried to put herself in the shoes of the bomb maker. What would he do to defuse the bomb? It would indicate to the system that it was him. He ought to have programmed this in the last 3 days. She took out her wand and tracked all audio input inside this chamber in past 72 hours and played them back. One strong voice said, It is Me and voila, the timer stopped.
Neville and Veena embraced each other. Replaying past voices was Magic Spells of the highest degree and the maker did not think that any person could think past his tricks. After moving past the defused bomb, they found another door and voices just beyond that. Both of them froze. This might be the 3rd and 4th layer of security guarding their prized possession.
Veena recollected the plan. If they surprised the guards, they might throw the nastiest spells in desperation. They had to make them cautious. Veena went ahead and knocked the door and then she amplified her voice.
"This is law enforcement office Special Forces Squad Leader Veena. Your game is over. Open the door and surrender. No one gets hurt and we reduce your punishment to minimal, upon my good word."
The laughter stopped and 2 muffled voices discussed options. Then the door opened.
The sight which met Neville and Veena, stunned them. It was 2 identical Italian Twins, no more than 23-24, who faced them. They were so handsome that for a tiny moment, Veena got blown away and whistled but Neville's cough brought things back into focus.
They bowed before Veena.
"We have heard of you. I am Tito and this is my brother Titus. We knew we are going to face the best but we are ready. Since you are here, you have already defused the bomb. Yet, we are more than capable to defend the Mission."
Veena spoke kindly, "I am sure you are. No one would entrust youth to such a mission unless they were capable. At the same time, you have a lifetime ahead of you. Would you rather lie wasted with injuries and fritter your bright life away?"
Titus replied, "Ma'am, we always knew what we were getting into and we accept the consequences, all in. All your logic is not going to dissuade us."
Saying this, both brothers bowed to her and pointed the wands directly at her chest. Neville tried to draw his own wand but Veena sharply jerked him back. Momentarily, in the heat of the situation, he forgot the plan. Only one was to be Aggressor, not both.
"Very well", she said. "Have it your way."
Veena turned into a supersonic whirl, threatening to blow away all matter there. As the twins and Neville watched fascinated, 2 rays of light shot out and hit the twins on their abdomen. One starting rolling with laughter and the other started sneezing. Veena followed this up with a healing spell, to ensure that even as the effects of her spell continued, the sneezing or laughing won't have severe health repercussions.
The twins bowed to her in gratitude but the primary emotion was humor. Both Veena and Neville couldn't help but laugh and even the twins saw the funny side to this, being the Italian younger versions of Fred and George. Even so, they couldn't help but helplessly watch, as Veena and Neville took away their wands and proceeded to a yellow door, having the cups with genetic markings.
They updated the situation to the ground and now they called in Molly. All their team mates congratulated them.
On the ground, all the team members were tiring out and occasionally resting. Having heard Athena's shield explanation earlier, all had be alert to dodge in case a new spell was shot out for which the shield had no answer. Her shield covered 99.96% spells but 0.04% spells could mean the difference between victory and defeat or even life and death.
Molly was originally not with others. She took a special port-key made by Neville and directly landed in the chamber next to him and Veena. She quietly went about her work. All of them had trained her for precisely this moment.
In 10 expert strokes and in less than 3 minutes, Molly permanently locked the cups magically. Defensive measures were the most important. Then she used more spells to dislodge the cups and carried away the yellow plastic trash bag. She bowed, took Harry's used shoe and disappeared.
With this, their Mission was over. Veena communicated to the ground. All spells stopped from their end and all of them gathered together. They bowed to the crestfallen opponents and apparated away.
They had achieved their primary motive but unknown to them, there remained many a slip between cup and the lip.