I'm gratified at the mostly positive response to this story, so here's the second chapter. I'm already up to the fourth chapter, though I'll wait until (and if) I write eight chapters or thereabouts before I start publishing. The third chapter revolves around Darnic and Avicebron discussing events, as well as Harry and company witnessing the summoning of Moedred. The chapter after that has Arturia, the Saber of Black in this story, considering her new situation. As a bit of a caveat, the Arturia in this story will be the one who went through the events of Unlimited Blade Works. The reason for this was that I needed an Arturia who might be receptive to reconciling with Mordred (even if it'd take some time), so she needed to go through the events of Fate/Zero at the very least.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter...

DUM VIVIMUS, VIVAMUS

CHAPTER 2:

REPORTS, REVENGE AND RECRUITMENT

Waver Velvet pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation, before turning an impressive glare on the subject of his annoyance. "…So, that's your field report."

"Yep."

"You dealt with the Yggdmillennia operatives…"

"Yep."

"Took what they intended to steal from the Magus' Association's archives in Geneva…"

"Yep."

"And decided to summon a Berserker, who happened to be a…"

"Beautiful bashful bride, yes, I just got through explaining this to you, Waver," Harry Black said exasperatedly, albeit with a slightly smug smile mixed in. He'd adopted Kiritsugu Emiya's dress sense, being dressed in a dark suit and trenchcoat. His messy thatch of dark hair framed handsome features marred by a burn scar on the right side of his face. Emerald eyes peered out from behind thick glasses.

Waver sighed. They had a nickname for what Harry did at times, when things got messy, not enough for the mundanes to notice, but rather, when he didn't give a flying fuck about the hierarchy and politics of Clock Tower. Enthusiastic walks, after a joke he made flippantly about one time he teamed up with Arcueid Brunestud, the infamous White Princess of the True Ancestors, or, in other words, a Real Fucking Vampire(1).

Still, Waver actually liked Harry. The pair of them shared a somewhat iconoclastic attitude to authority, and Waver was one of those who had sponsored Harry as an Enforcer, once his own ascent to becoming Lord El-Melloi II was assured. Waver was even courting one of Harry's friends, Miss Granger. It was just that he could be so exasperating.

Case in point, the young woman sitting next to him, reading a book, while a pair of alligator clips connected her to a power point on the wall. Not that she needed it per se, as Harry's magical reserves were quite good, but they liked to take advantage of the woman's skill of Galvanism, being able to turn electricity into mana. Waver wondered briefly whether she came with the admonition of 'batteries not included' somewhere on her body, and fought a sudden urge to smile at the notion. The book she was reading was a Penguin paperback of the novel based on her life, apparently.

"…You did this deliberately, didn't you? To ensure we had to send you to Romania?" Waver asked exasperatedly.

"On or off the record?"

"Off the record."

"Then yes, bluntly. Yggdmillennia and I have some debts to settle. The old farts in charge were looking to keep me from that, I'm sure, especially that senile fool Rocco, who I reckon's gone soft in the head from all those jars he has filled with pickled monsters. Besides, from what I've heard, they were looking to send Feend vor Sembren. He's an academic, not an Enforcer!"

"An academic with connections, Harry," Waver said with a sigh. "I don't like that anymore than you do, but I also don't like you haring off on a quixotic crusade of revenge against James Potter and getting yourself killed. Leaving aside the fact that I know firsthand how dangerous even an auxiliary Grail War can be, the wizards are blaming us for his defection to Yggdmillennia."

"Because they're idiots," Harry said bluntly. "From what I've dug up, along with what Padfoot and Moony have managed to, he's been with Yggdmillennia since shortly after he left Hogwarts. He was hiding out and training Charles in Romania. And Waver…James screwed over my life. He left me this." He touched the burn scars. "He and Dumbledore left me to rot with the Dursleys. These scars are a reminder of that, and of my vow. He treated me as less than a thing. My life was nothing to James. I was just a doll. Even Dumbledore, for all his callousness, treated me better than that, or at least made a better pretence."

"And you also know, thanks to the intelligence we gained, that the Potters were in possession of Avalon, and it's not present in any of their known estates in Britain," Waver said. "Leaving aside any other Servants Yggdmillennia may have summoned, King Arthur as a Saber is already a daunting prospect. We're considering giving one of the other Masters a piece of the Round Table, hoping that whoever is summoned from that might be able to counter Arthur."

"I'm surprised a fragment still exists in this day and age," the woman, whom Harry had introduced as 'Eve', spoke up, peeking over the book shyly.

"Clock Tower has a number of rare relics dating back thousands of years, as do many of the noteworthy Magus families." Waver pulled a list towards him. "We actually have a list of a few of the known catalysts Yggdmillennia have collected over the past little while. One, for example, is the notebook of Avicebron."

"Who?" Harry asked.

"Avicebron, a noted Jewish poet, philosopher, kabbalist and alchemist from 11th Century Spain, though his real name was Solomon ibn Gabirol. He was said to have created a golem in life. Another relic was a fragment of a myrtle tree, said to be the one Astolfo was trapped in by the sorceress Alcina. Astolfo was one of the Twelve Paladins of Charlemagne in the Matter of France," Waver explained.

"May I?" Harry asked, hand out for the list. Waver handed it over to him reluctantly, and Harry's eyes scanned the list. "A fragment of the Golden Fleece, part of the floor from the Temple of Heracles, a piece of metal said to be from Harpe, the weapon Perseus used to slay Medusa, one of the masks used by the leaders of the Assassins…this is worrisome, and the list is so long, we don't know which of these would be used for sure. They've even stolen antique guns, one supposedly used by Francis Drake, the other by Oda Nobunaga, whoever that is!"

"Well, we can be assured of one thing, at least," Waver said. "They won't be summoning Assassin for their side."

"How do you know?" Harry asked.

"Because Remus Lupin intercepted Hyouma Sagara in Japan, and became, albeit inadvertently, the Master of the Assassin originally intended to be used by the Black Faction. We know Assassin for the Red Faction has been summoned already. Given the calibre of Servants Yggdmillennia was looking to summon, any Servant off their side and on ours is only a good thing."

"I never thought Moony to be the type to get along with an Assassin Servant," Harry mused.

"Yes, well, I've met her. It seems that Eve is not the only Heroic Spirit thought to be male who turned out to be female," Waver said, before pressing a button on the phone on his desk. "Send Mr Lupin and his guest inside, please."

The door soon opened, revealing the haggard, careworn and scarred features of Remus Lupin. Following close behind him was a little girl, not even in her teens, with ash grey hair, golden eyes, and a face that was cute, even without the two scars marring it. She was dressed in a simple blouse and jeans, and had a happy smile on her face.

Harry was instantly hugging his honorary uncle. "Moony," he said, "what the hell happened?"

"I could say the same for you, Harry," Remus Lupin said, looking at Eve. "And this young lady is…?"

"Ah. Eve, meet Remus Lupin, the nearest thing I have to a proper uncle who wasn't a belligerent, xenophobic walrus. Remus Lupin, meet Eve, aka Berserker of Red."

"Hello," Eve said shyly, as she shook Remus' hand.

"And this is…Jackie," Remus said, gently leading the grey-haired girl over to them. She peered up at them with golden eyes, wide with curiosity, and a little wariness.

"Hello, Eve," Jackie said, cocking her head curiously. "I'm Assassin, but you can call me Jackie. And you must be Harry."

Harry nodded, before frowning. "Jackie?"

Remus cleared his throat. "Sagara stole a knife from the Black Museum of Scotland Yard. He intended to use that as a catalyst, as well as a means of murdering a Japanese prostitute he had hired called Reika Rikudou. I managed to intercept him before he could kill her, but the summoning process had begun, but…"

"We didn't like the bad man's mana," Jackie hissed suddenly. "It was all cold and poison, like the river, like the smog, choking us and burning us. But Daddy's mana…it was warm, even with the light of the moon and the howling of the wolf inside. We haven't been warm in so long. And he was protecting Miss Reika. So, we decided he would be our Master."

"…What's with the speaking in plurals?" Harry asked, clearly disturbed. "Wait a moment…her name is Jackie, Sagara stole a knife from Scotland Yard, and he intended to kill a prostitute with it…no way…this munchkin's Jack the Ripper?! Is she…can you trust her?"

"He keeps me warm," Jackie said, the diminutive serial killer walking over to Harry and gazing up at him. "He told me about you. About how you were like us in many ways."

"Harry, it's fine, we can trust her," Remus said. "She's just…twisted. She's a gestalt of the souls of children who fell through the cracks in Victorian England, the wraiths of children who died of hunger or murder on the streets of London…all of which coalesced into a single child who wanted to go back where it was warm…the womb. I've been spending the past day or so trying to educate her, as well as to get her to have an enjoyable childhood, because her killings were done due to a lack of a moral compass."

"And yet, she's still going to be fighting in the Grail War," Harry pointed out.

"We want to," Jackie said, her earlier childish demeanour becoming darker. "We won't have a normal life until these mean Yggdmillennia people are gone. Daddy wants us to be able to have the childhood we didn't have. Besides…he said you could be my big brother. We never had a big brother before."

"Or proper clothes," Remus said. "You do not want to know what she was wearing when I first summoned her. Even the clothes of a Victorian urchin would've been better. I've persuaded her to wear something more covering when she fights. Though I intend to have Jackie act as our scout for the most part, rather than having her go into battle."

"Hopefully, Ruler will accept her defection, so to speak," Waver muttered.

"Ruler?" Harry asked.

"Yes. Ruler is a class outside of the usual seven classes of Servants. In a Holy Grail War like this, according to the documents left behind by the von Einzberns, a Ruler Servant is summoned to act as a referee of sorts," Waver said. "They are a saint of some kind, to act as an impartial judge, taking the role of the Church's Overseer from the previous Grail Wars, and have the ability to command any Servant in the Grail War. I doubt that taking Assassin from their side inadvertently would count as a breach of the rules, as Assassin has chosen her Master willingly. Still, when you two head to Romania, I want you to make contact with the Ruler Servant as soon as you can."

"Right," Harry said, looking down at Jackie a little warily. "Anything else?"

"Well, we've decided to bring Kairi Sisigou in," Waver said. "I believe Rocco has decided to make him Saber's Master. It'd be strange to have a mercenary necromancer in charge of one of the Knights of the Round Table, but he's reliable in his work, and as unconventional in attack on Magi as Kiritsugu Emiya."

"I'm surprised you didn't recruit him," Harry said.

"Emiya has been suffering burnout for a long time. He considered participating in the Grail War I participated in, but decided that the Grail in that Grail War wouldn't be enough to grant his wish. He also wouldn't work well with most heroes."

Harry nodded. Waver knew he had trained under Emiya long enough to know the man's attitudes. "Plus, he adopted that Shirou kid who was orphaned from the Dead Apostle rampage in Fuyuki ten years ago. That kid probably saved his sanity, and the last I saw, Maiya was enjoying being a mother, believe it or not. I mean, I knew he was in semi-retirement when he started training me, but still…" He shook his head. "I find it an honour that he granted me his Origin Rounds. I think he gave them to me because he didn't want Shirou to follow him down that path. I was already down it when he began teaching me. He took me out of the darkest part of that path. I don't kill the one to save the many, not if the one is a relative innocent. You kill as few as possible, to save as many as possible. There is a difference."

Waver opened his mouth to make a comment, only for the phone to ring. He answered it, and listened, before his eyes widened in horror. After a terse and tense conversation, he replaced the phone handset, and looked at the gathered Masters and Servants. "That was the Enforcers division. There's bad news out of Romania. Our hitsquad was decimated. Only one of the Enforcers made it back alive, sent as a messenger."

"What of Sirius?!" Harry demanded, going over to Waver's desk, and glaring down at him. "Is he dead?!"

"No…but he was captured by Yggdmillennia. And all the others…they were slaughtered by a Servant, impaled on a forest of stakes…it seems that Yggdmillennia has summoned a Servant already, and in all likelihood, he is Vlad Tepes of Wallachia…the inspiration for Dracula…"

CHAPTER 2 ANNOTATIONS:

Oh dear. Complications of all sorts have arisen, but why was Sirius captured alive? And Remus has Jackie! We'll go into Reika's fate later. She won't be participating in the events of this story, but she is alive and relatively well.

1. As you can guess, this part of the opening chapter is a reference to Hellsing Ultimate Abridged, mostly the first episode.