[CHAPTER THREE]
Harry was currently in the bulletproof glass sealed containment chamber in Mr. Natex's lab. The experiment had been explained to him before he had been put through hell the previous day.
Mr. Natex apparently had known about Harry's speedy regenerative factor. According to him he had been keeping an eye on Harry and had only come to the rescue when he could no longer bear to see the young Potter abused.
Anyway, because of Harry's healing factor, there was a little chance that he'd be killed by any experiment done to him so Mr. Natex had immediately selected him as a candidate for his mother's theorized experiment which is now being funded by the Canadian government.
To have a better idea of how his magical regeneration worked, Doctor Moira MacTaggert and Mr. Natex had subjected him to all sorts of injury the previous day, marveling at how quickly he'd healed from them. Thankfully they hadn't cut off any of his limbs as they hadn't been sure if it'd grown back since his magical regeneration was not determined by a gene which they could study. Such genes would have been able to give them an idea of his limits but as one was lacking they had to limit themselves in how much they harmed him.
They had upped the tests to see if his regeneration went beyond tissue healing and had started by giving him little doses of toxins and sedatives. He had proven resistant to all but the worst they could find and then they had been assured that he'd survive the experiment.
Harry was proud of himself though. He had endured through the pain, only screaming out loud when it went beyond endurable. He'd soon been gagged. Only the image of his young innocent mother in his head had inspired him to soldier on. In fact, after those seriously agonizing tests he had informed Mr. Natex of the other possible powers he may have. He was ready to do anything to have the power to avenge his mother. He had given the doctor detailed explanations of how he had discovered them and the man had used those details to make Harry master those abilities in less than six days.
Being dropped from the ceiling by mechanical arms incessantly for hours long didn't only make him develop a bit of fear for height but it also made him master unaided flight which then drove away what little fear he had for heights.
Shaving his head and mocking him for not looking much like the mother who had sacrificed her life for him and locking him in a room filled with mirrors had made Harry learn to shapeshift instinctively. He now spotted a dark red curly hair.
Having starved guard Rottweilers pursue him in a corridor with a low hanging ceiling that hindered him from flying, awoke his PTSD and made him quickly master the act of teleporting.
And being baited to pick out knowledge about his mother from Mr. Natex's made him master his ability to access the minds of others. He now possessed several memories of his mother working alongside Mr. Natex. Sadly, he wasn't able to breach Mr. Natex's mind again. The man claimed to have a weak telepathy that could block such intrusion and acted as a danger detector for him.
After all these tests it was then finally explained to Harry what this experiment would be about.
In Mr. Natex's own words they were 'going to make him a mutate'. A mutate, both doctors had explained to him, is different from a mutant because their mutation is due to the influence of chemicals or radiation instead or congenital genetic mutation in the case of mutants.
What they want to do to Harry is expose him to something Mr. Natex had called the Rankin chemical. It was named after one Calvin Rankin who was exposed to the chemical and gained the power to be able to copy the powers, intellect, and skills of others; skilled humans, mutants, cyborgs, and advanced humanoids.
But Calvin Rankin had been unable to keep the powers he copied, not until he copied the powers of the green beast—the Hulk. According to Doctor MacTaggert who had once ran tests on Calvin, the gamma radiation in Calvin's blood from copying the Hulk's power was what the chemical that mutated him needed to stabilize and make him able to permanently keep the powers he copied.
MacTaggert had also said that after then Calvin had become somewhat of a berserker but she had later discovered that he had bipolar, something his mutation had enhanced. She'd feared he had been exhibiting the Hulk's rage but seeing that he hadn't they had been to rest easy that the radiation was not reason for the craze.
What will be done to Harry is that, they will first of all expose him to the Rankin chemical and when it takes hold they would then subject him to gamma rays.
Harry was ready and that's why he was currently within the containment chamber. He gave Mr. Natex a nod through the glass to convey his readiness. He watched as the man pushed a lever and from within the chamber an irrigation device began to spill out a red chemical that immediately started to release red fumes that bore similarities to nitric acid.
Harry closed his eyes and began to inhale the fumes of the Rankin chemical. After the third inhalation he began to quiver. Suddenly he could no longer stand on his feet and fell on the floor with a thud. His body trembled and spasmed for forty minutes before his magic began to heal him by making his body adapt to the chemical and the changes it started to input on his genotype.
After a long while of pain and enduring his genetic structure being configured and altered, Harry Potter opened his eyes and looked towards Mr. Natex. Both met each other's gazes and grinned in camaraderie.
~Breaker~
For several days now Dumbledore has been analyzing the tracking device, powered by Harry's blood. It had taken him till today to narrow the boy's location to Canada but aside from that he couldn't pinpoint the particular area, street, and building like he was supposed to as he was using the boy's own blood to track him.
This meant that powerful wards on par with Hogwarts' protected the area building Harry was in. This indicated that muggles were not the only ones involved with the boy's abduction and the murder of his relatives.
What could be the purpose for Muggles and Wizards to join hands together to capture the Boy-Who-Lived?
The answer to that didn't come to him no matter how hard he thought of it. It was fortunate that the wizarding world hadn't yet discovered that their boy hero had been kidnapped. The Ministry of course knew. They found out when the wards collapsed.
It has been an error on Dumbledore's part to not take down the wards before leaving rather than leaving them to just fall apart. When they fell they triggered the alarms in the ministry and Amelia Bones was no on his case for not telling her about Harry Potter being kidnapped and Fudge was putting a lot of pressure on both the Director of the DMLE and Albus himself to find the boy. He didn't want to be the minister who the Boy-Who-Lived died in his term of service.
Albus sighed and dropped the magical devices he had been tinkering with. He still hadn't heard from Nicholas and he had a suspicion about that. He could still remember Fury's offer of reciprocation. He'd only offer any info if Albus first afforded him the same courtesy.
Albus sighed. With the roadblock he was facing now with finding young Harry, he couldn't let his pride stop him from using his connections to find the boy. If Fury wants to play a game of mutual respect then he will easily join him in such a wonderful game, it wasn't like the Director wasn't worthy of such respect anyway. For a muggle at least.
He picked up the Elder Wand and summoned his phoenix Patronus. "I have managed to trace Harry's location to an island in the Canadian Archipelago. Have you discovered anything about the man who took him that could help us narrow down the location?"
Just as he sent the Patronus he heard a knock on his door. He activated the x-ray runes in his half-moon spectacles and sighed when he saw the familiar figure of the Director of the DMLE through his door.
"Come in Amelia," he called and watched as the door swung open. She closed it with just a bit of aggressiveness. It almost made him smile but he restrained himself lest he aggravate her mood. Cornelius must have been troubling her again about finding young Harry. "Have a seat, Amelia. Lemon drop?"
She sat down and shook her head in rejection of his offer for the sour sweet. "Albus, please tell me you have good news. Cornelius has become a hectic nuisance."
Dumbledore sighed. "I see I'm not the only one he is disturbing. I have received no less than twenty six Floo calls from him since dawn."
"He won't let me do any work or even have peace until we find Potter and if he continues like this then soon enough the whole Ministry might find out that Potter was abducted and then it won't take long for it to be on the Daily Prophet and we will be bombarded with letters from all over with people asking about the well-being of the Boy-Who-Lived," She said tired. Now that Albus really looked at her he could see that she was looking overworked. She must have stressed herself trying to find young Harry and sadly because of her minimal resources her efforts were futile.
"It won't get to that," he said, sitting up and radiating confidence to provide her some assurance. "I have managed to track Mister Potter to an island in Ca..."
Before he could finish his words an ethereal Ziz phased through the walls of the room into his office. He and Amelia both stared at the legendary creature with more than a hint of fear. Even in the form of a Patronus the sky giant still looked formidable. It wasn't its usually mountainous size but when its opened its mouth and showed them its serrated teeth Amelia almost jumped out of her chair and Albus would have found it hard to control his fright if he wasn't fascinated by the creature.
Zizs were legends and no one has ever seen one, yet there was one right in front of him, irregardless of it being a Patronus. This was proof of the creature's existence as unreal animals can't be used as spirit guardians.
The Ziz gave both occupants of the office an Imperious look and began to speak in a feminine voice that was oddly familiar. "Albus, the Director said to tell you to meet him in the Leaky Cauldron. He has information that if analyzed with yours can help us find Potter."
With the message delivered the Ziz faded away. Amelia sighed and leaned back heavily on her chair. Albus began to chuckle only to earn a stink eye from the Lady Director. "Who would have a Ziz Patronus?" She asked, perplexed and a bit still frightened.
Her reaction was understandable. The creatures after all were known for being huger than clouds, able to destroy continents with their claws, and make rivers flow over land with the flaps of their wings. They were Thunderbirds on enhancement potions. Albus knew that the so called Magical Titans, he, Tom, and Gallert, together won't be able to put a scratch on a Ziz. The entire wizarding world gathered for battle might not even do any damage to the aerial omnipotent. Amelia was right to be scared and there was no reason for her to be ashamed of it. Albus himself had also been frightened a bit, that was until he reminded himself that a mere Patronus wouldn't harm him except he was a Dementor and he was far from being a Dementor.
"I did recognize the voice," he said to address her question. He dug into his Occlumency system and searched for a recognition of the feminine voice that had come from the Ziz. His eyes widened as he finally recalled the owner of the voice. "This can't be good at all."
"What is it, Albus," Amelia asked, worriedly. She'd immediately sat up at his wary statement.
"I fear our Defense Against the Dark Arts professor is now a cohort of SHIELD," he divulged sadly. Why does Nick Fury keep trying to gain a foothold in the wizarding world?
"Which of the professors, Albus. You know I can't bother to learn their names. You go through them as quickly as I go through wipers for my monocles."
Albus blinked back surprise at that statement. A bit unregular for an analogy but apt nevertheless.
"You will surely know this one," Albus said, still thinking about the issue of his professor's extracurricular activities. "She is after all the most famous Curse Breaker of the current times."
"Just spit it out already, Albus! What's her name?!" Amelia was almost yelling due to impatience.
"Rakepick, Amelia, that's her name," he said and sighed, running his fingers through his long beard, "Professor Patricia Rakepick."
