[CHAPTER FOUR]
Harry was having what could be considered the most wonderful time of his life. After the exposure to the Rankin chemical, Dr. MacTaggert had suggested that they test if he had the mimic ability before they try to make it permanent.
So here he was, fighting two of the soldiers in the base. When the fight started both soldiers had been trashing him but a few minutes in he'd started copying their skill. He learnt their fighting style in seconds, gained their fighting instincts and muscle memory. Now for every blow they sent at him, which he dodged, he sent back two which they could not dodged because of his speed and height. He used his eight years old stature to his advantage, targeting their kidneys, ribs, and knees.
One of them closed in and Harry saw the opportunity to end the fight. He advanced as the soldier neared him only to go on his knees and break the soldier's kneebones with a quick punch from both hands. Oh, did he forget to mention he'd also gained their strength? One of them also happened to be ambidextrous and now so was Harry.
The soldier began to tilt over to crash and Harry got up and pushed him towards his comrade behind. While the soldier behind was distracted with making sure his ally didn't fall on him, Harry leaped and lashed out with a jump turning kick to the last soldier's head. Both soldiers went tumbling down, the one Harry kicked was completely out of it. Harry felt a bit sorry for him as it was from him he copied Taekwondo.
Harry sighed as the fight came to an end. He heard someone applauding him and turned around to see his Uncle Nile behind him. Calling him Uncle Nile was something Natex had insisted on after Harry had agreed to the experiment. And though the man might be an unforgiven and relentless taskmaster, he was proving to be a better Uncle than Vernon ever was.
Harry didn't understand why though. Uncle literally tortured him when they were testing his regeneration healing factor. What he had gone through in those few hours was worse than everything he went through in all the seven years spent in the Dursley household. Maybe he liked Uncle Nile more because the man was more friendly, or because even when the man hurt him it was for a purpose, a purpose Harry supported, a cause he championed.
Uncle Nile stepped forward grinning. "Your mom would be so proud," he said and Harry got a feeling that the man didn't mean it. He looked at his eyes and saw they didn't reflect the joy his grin was exhibiting. They were cold and calculating.
Harry didn't tell his Uncle but since the Rankin exposure he'd been copying things from him and Dr. MacTaggert, skills, traits, instincts, knowledge, and intelligence. With his magical shapeshifting ability, which he found out from Uncle Nile is called Metamorpmagus, Harry can Metamorph into either of the Doctors and fool everyone because asides from their memories he knew everything about them now. When they discuss genetics and biochemistry he know and understand what they are talking about having duplicated their knowledge but he don't comment as he felt that it would make them notice that he was copying them. They might suspect but he didn't want them to suspect to what extent he'd copied them.
From his Uncle Nile Harry had copied the man limited telepathy and telekinesis. He used both like a Jedi, using the telepathy to read his opponents next move and using the telekinesis to make himself weightless to move swiftly and negate gravity, he also used it to augment his movements, kicks, jumps, and punches.
This gave him more than an edge in combat, but what truly accelerated his skill was that he'd done away with glasses after the Rankin exposure. Who'd have known that he could copy the impeccable health of others also?
The most important thing he'd gotten from the Natex however was his sophistry skills. He could now spot lies in people's words, was now a master at trickery and deception. Through this it hadn't taken long for Harry to discover that Uncle Nile certainly had a different purpose for him after this experiment. The man had lied about wanting to avenge Lily Potter.
That rankled Harry, it made him boil. But he kept his rage in check. He will play Uncle Nile's game of manipulation and become powerful. When the time is right he will strike from the shadows and then become free to avenge his mother himself. He will strike at Natex and the man won't even realize something had been done to him.
Harry gave the man an innocent smile and straightened himself as if he was proud by his Uncle's praise. Just like Dudley used to everytime his father praised him for his juvenile masochism. Not the innocent smile though, there were never such smiles with his cousin, the boy would not have even been able to muster one if he tried.
"I believe we can proceed with the last experiment now," Natex said. He signalled two soldiers by the door and pointed at the two soldiers Harry had sent crashing to the floor. "Take your friends away and inform Lestrange that all the tests have been successful and we are moving on to the last phase of the project."
The door opened and Lestrange came in, escorted by two men holding wands. "No need to tell me anything, Essex. I watched everything from the surveillance cameras. Splendid job, I must say. You have proven your worth."
Uncle Nile was not looking at the Director though and neither was Harry. They both had their eyes on the two Wizards behind the bald squib. While Natex was looking at them with anger written all over his face, Harry was grinning as he eyed their wands.
"Are you a fool, Lestrange?" Natex hissed in rage. "Why did you bring Wizards here when you know the subject is capable of duplicating their knowledge and skill. And hired battle mages for that matter."
Of course they didn't want him to know how to use his magic. Magic was after all the ultimate, limitless weapon. Him wielding it would make him uncontrollable and likely to escape.
"Relax Natex. He don't have a wand and there are wards stopping anyone from apparating out of the base, he can only disapparate within the base but cannot leave," Lestrange said, unbothered by Natex's worries.
Natex though was right to worry as Harry just finished accumulating the knowledge and skills of the mages. He did his best to hide his grin as methods of transfiguration, battle elemental magic, and curses began to pile up in his head.
"Harry, go wait for me in the lab," Uncle Nile ordered.
Harry pouted but conceded. He walked away and went into the elevator. There were no cameras in the elevators. He checked again however just to be extra sure. When he found no camera hidden or in plain sight he stretched out his hand.
He closed his eyes and whispered Gantegide in his mind. It was a glove shield that protects ones hand from all sorts of harm. He got the knowledge of it from one of the battle mages.
Eyes still closed, he followed it with an Incendio. Immediately he felt the heat as a ball of fire appeared on his hand. He opened his eyes and saw the dancing flames. Wandless and nonverbal magic. He grinned and put it out.
The time was approaching. Soon they will all see that the Legacy of Lily Potter was not gone like they'd thought.
~Break~
After getting the message from the Ziz Patronus, Amelia had insisted on following him to the Leaky Couldron to meet with Fury and he had tried and failed to convince her to stay back.
Now here they were, sitting in a reserved room waiting for their guests who they had informed Tom to send up to them once they arrived.
"They said to meet them here and yet here we are and they are nowhere to be found," Amelia complained.
Albus shook his head at the Hufflepuff alumnus' impatience. He opened his mouth to beg her to calm down and be patient when the door opened and Tom stepped in.
"Headmaster, they are here," he said said and opened the door wider to admit a tall man wearing a leather trenchcoat and an eye-patch. The man was followed in by a redhead woman wearing a luxurious red wizarding robe.
"Thank you Tom," Dumbledore said. "Come in Director, Professor Rakepick."
Both came in and Tom left closing the door. "I didn't know you will be bringing anyone with you, Albus," Nicholas said.
Rakepick took her seat while the director went over to the window and shifted the curtains to survey the surrounding neighborhood and rooftops.
Albus could understand his paranoia. Hitler's snipers had proven their worth violently during the war with Grindelwald.
"You also failed to inform me that one of my Professors is now in your employ," Albus retorted. He brought out a single lemon drop and popped it into his mouth.
Fury stepped away from the window and fixed the aged Headmaster with an unimpressed look. "You don't hold the position in which I'd need to inform you of who I employ. Your jurisdiction is purely magical and a separate entity, Headmaster."
Amelia bones slapped her hand on the table and Albus almost jerked out of his chair. He saw that Fury's hand was halfway to his hip holster.
He gasped. "Amelia?" He asked in surprise.
She gave him a heated look and started to speak. "While a boy is probably suffering at the hands of his abductors you two are here doing what? You are both doing a fucking size measuring contests. Are you both still children? Drop your pride and let's get this meeting going already," she said. She was not yelling and neither was she quiet.
"You stole the words right out of my mouth, Bones," Rakepick said sending both Fury and Albus himself frowns.
Fury sighed and dipped his hand into an inner pocket of his coat. He brought out a Manila envelope and dropped it before Albus and Amelia. Amelia grabbed it before Albus could even blink. She cracked it open and upturned it so that its content would fall right into her hand.
The contents were pictures, several pictures of an albino man with cruel eyes that made even Albus startled. He'd never seen such emotionless visage on anyone before, not even Tom. The boy had always been angry anytime they met in battle and when things go well for him he hand his Death Eaters would go out and celebrate. Voldemort had never been emotionless, wicked and heartless true, but never emotionless. In fact, this was Albus first time seeing seeing someone truly impassive, blank to the core, and it chilled him to the bone.
"Who is this?" Amelia asked, looking unphased by the threat of the man even his picture was able to convey.
"That's Nathaniel Essex. We were able to match his face with the description the old lady from Privet Drive gave us about the man who took Potter," Fury informed, earning a gasp from both Dumbledore and Amelia.
Amelia gave Dumbledore a bewildered look. "Any relation to the Essex Clan you think?" She asked.
"His paleness would suggest that but by I don't think he is anything other than a muggle," Albus said, though within he was using his Occlumency to match the image of this Nathaniel with the current Baron of the Essex Clan. It was a near perfect match. They looked quite alike except a bit of difference with their builds.
"What is this Clan Essex and why didn't you tell me about it before?" Fury asked Rakepick, scowling.
Ah, Albus had nearly forgotten that the man didn't like not knowing things. He'd have kept the knowledge to himself just for the enjoyment of watching Fury seethe in restrained anger if it wouldn't impede rescuing Harry.
"Professor Rakepick as a half-blood wouldn't know about the Vampire clans," He quickly said when he saw that the professor looked like she wanted to chew Fury's head off. "Clan Essex is one of the most powerful Vampire clans here in the UK and they are rumored to be quite wealthy."
"So we might be facing Vampires? Fantastic," Fury said with so much condescension that he reminded Albus of Severus at that moment. "We have managed to figure out more about this case because of your help with narrowing Potter's location down to Canada. Canada and Essex have a sort of history. Several times in the past, Essex has been involved with a clandestine government project called Weapon Plus. Sometime in the past one of Weapon Plus' biggest project was taken over by a covert Canadian government agency. With Essex's connection to Weapon Plus and with the Canadian government having been involved with the project in the past also, we drew the conclusion that both are now working together thanks to your info about Canada. Department K... that is the Canadian covert agency... have lots of bases and we know each and everyone of them but..."
The Director suddenly paused looking a bit ashamed or as though he'd sucked a lemon. Professor Rakepick continued from where he'd stopped. "We have all of the Department's bases marked and under surveillance except one. We wouldn't have even remembered it if not for our computers but anytime we review it we immediately forget it. What we do now is think of a dockyard in the same area and accept it as the last Department K base else we'd forget about the whole thing entirely."
"Fidelius," Albus said and the professor nodded. "At least it's a good thing you know the approximate location of the base."
What both of them didn't tell the aged wizard was that being able to even concentrate on the dockyard and think of it as the final Department K base wouldn't have been possible without the help of SHIELDs psi-division.
"My people have theorized a way we could locate Potter even through the Fidelius," Fury said and Albus nodded for him to continue, curious about what muggles think will be able to negate one of the strongest charms in magic's history. "They suggested that we contact Xavier and have him find Potter with the Cerebro."
"That could work," Rakepick said thoughtfully. She explained when she received questioning looks from Albus and Amelia. "Charles Xavier is a mutant. He is the most powerful mind arts practitionist I've ever seen. The muggles call him a telepath but that's a very restricting way to describe him. Consider Occlumency, Legilimency, Obliviation, the Imperious Curse, illusions, the nightmare potion and every other mind related magic you know of. Now think about one man having the power to do all that but at the level of a god."
Albus wanted exclaim out loud how that was impossible, but he knew the power of mutants. He'd run across several during his lifetime. There had been Mr. Howlett from the World War and he won't be forgetting the fight between Grindelwald and Lenscherr anytime soon, he thought with a shudder.
"Can he bypass occluded minds?" Amelia asked in worry.
"With some effort," Rakepick admitted. "He can enter a realm where the mental representation of humans, their astral form, exist."
That actually made Dumbledore more skittish about this Xavier fellow yet at the same time he'd like to sit with the man and hold an intelligent conversations with him, scholar to scholar.
"Good then," he said finally. "If this Mr. Xavier is as good as you have described then not only will he be able to find Harry but he will be able to take the secret from his mind and share it with us."
Rakepick blinked in shock. "I never thought about that."
Fury snorted. "I did, but it will take a lot to stop Xavier from getting involved. He and his people, especially one of the teachers in his school, have a violent history with Weapon Plus."
"Then we should be glad if he does get involved," Rakepick said. Fury glared at her and she brushed off the look and carried on. "We don't know Department K resources. We don't know if they have mutants in their employ, robots, vampires. The Fidelius alone suggests that they have hired mages and curse breakers. It'd be foolish to reject Xavier's invaluable help."
"We will see," Fury said.
"Where does this Xavier live," Amelia asked, returning Essex's images back to the envelope.
"Upstate New York. He runs a school for mutants there," Rakepick responded.
"We have delayed enough. Albus you have the authorization to make homeland and international portkeys, we need to be in New York yesterday."
Albus regarded the Lady Bones and saw the resolve in her eyes. It was, surprising, shared by Professor Rakepick. Fury didn't look like he agreed with this hastiness but before he could speak, Dumbledore agreed with Amelia. "As you say, Amelia." He gestured for her to give him the envelope. When she did he placed his wand on it and whispered, "portus."
The envelope glowed for a bit and Dumbledore stood up and stretched it out. Bones came by immediately to grab an edge and Rakepick was not far behind. Fury pressed his lips together in frustration the sighed and joined them.
Dumbledore called the activation phrase and then they were whisked away from from London and across the Atlantic.
