Angelinus

Chapter 25

Filling in the Sky

Occasionally, very occasionally when the wizarding and the Muggle world were affected by the same things, the Minister for Magic and the Muggle Prime Minister would join forces. Today was one such occasion. A special unit of the London Counter-Terrorist Group had joined the crack team of Aurors Ron had put together, khaki uniforms mixing with blood red to make a strange mix as they milled uncertainly in the briefing hall. The Senior Detective Inspector looked a trifle self-conscious as he made his way to where Ron was leaning against the wall.

"John Parkhurst," he introduced himself, holding out a hand.

"Ron Weasley," Ron replied in the same no-nonsense tone, shaking the hand carefully. "Have your lot been briefed on the situation?"

Parkhurst shook his head. "I was told to get the lads in here for nine am for a briefing by a mission specialist. I have no idea of who you are or where you came from but the order came down from the PM's own hand and that makes it almost law."

"Yes, our Minister of Magic is a bit that way inclined also," Ron replied dryly and both men grinned. "So! How about we get everyone seated and get this show on the road. Er, you do know about magic, don't you?"

Parkhurst shot him and old fashioned look and shook his head with a snigger. "Not so you'd notice."

"Oh dear, that is going to make things a little awkward."

The briefing began simply enough, the redhead in the red uniform giving a clear and concise summation of the situation as they knew it. The introduction was plain enough; a recap of the group they were dealing with called the Decency League for the Removal of Magic of all things, not your normal group of terrorists. The Inspector as he was titled gave compliments to various people as they all studied the floor plan of the building pinned to the wall. A number of the group seemed to light up from inside at the praise which was odd. It only got really weird when Inspector Weasley pulled out a stick and began sketching in midair, a three dimensional representation of the area appearing as he spoke. Most of the anti-terrorist squad thought the pointer was a new type of laser drawing tool but Parkhurst couldn't see the computer it would be hooked up to.

"Right, DI Parkhurst's people, I want you to come in from the east, west and south sides. How do you want them to proceed John? You know your people best."

"Erm, right," John rose and prodded the model, his hand going right through it. Weasley didn't offer him the pointer which was rather bad manners, to say the least. "We already have three teams so each team knows how the other members operate. They are a well trained bunch and know to disable many different types of alarms. They are trained in armed and unarmed combat and should be able to take out any guards they run into. Once inside the building, they will need to know where to go and what their objectives are. If this is just another terrorist group then we shouldn't really expect too much trouble beyond the initial assault."

"That's fair enough. I'll also put one each of my people in with yours to cover them if there are any charms, spells or hexes to deal with. Mind you, everything we have met so far is just schoolboy stuff so it's not likely it will get worse, but you never know, do you? We have the rest of the day to train together and work out the best modus operandi for the operation, so to speak. We don't expect a high level of magic but there has been some evidence to suggest there are at least two low level wizards or witches amongst them. My lot on the north side will be going in through the wall as there doesn't appear to be any entrances on that side. Longatti there is very good with brick dissolving charms and hexes so he will lead the assault. Morrisette, Jones and McDonald, you go with the Muggle teams. Our people will be casting camouflage charms over your teams Parkhurst so it might be best if we practice as I don't want any miscues or stray hexes. I've assigned five broomstick patrol Aurors to give us air cover so if anyone tries to take off from the roof they won't get far."

The Muggles were looking utterly disgusted and unimpressed, Parkhurst almost puce with indignation. "Right! That's enough, we are supposed to be here to take out a terrorist group and you lot are arsing about! Is this a joke to you?"

"Oh, good grief no, we're most serious! This terrorist group has murdered at least twenty people that we can calculate, possibly more, and have destroyed the magic of untold innocents, poisoned medicines meant for children and are dead set of the genocide of the wizarding world. Believe me, this is no joke!" Ron said harshly. "Look, put your disbelief into storage for a while and watch the exercise before you make any judgements, okay? I suggest we split up into the operational groups and go out to the training grounds for a session in the arena. We have a mock-up of the target house ready with a few extra surprises and traps to keep us all on our toes. If you are ready to go, DI Parkhurst?"

"Ready for what?" Parkhurst asked as his people split into their teams and one each of the red uniformed people broke off to join them. His mouth dropped open and he gaped as the tall black guy pulled out a piece of board and asked all of West group to put their hands on it like a sort of kid's game. As soon as they were all touching, the whole lot winked out, vanished, disappeared, gone! "What? What happened to them? Where did they go?" He gaped like a fish out of water as the South and East teams vanished just as quickly and with even less noise.

Ron coughed depreciatingly. "Portkeys, they are handy for moving large numbers of people who can't apparate. Look, I told you there was magic involved in this operation and for obvious reasons; your people had to know about it. Usually our two worlds stay as far apart as we can keep them simply because you Muggles have some very inflated ideas of what we can and can't do, what we want and don't want to achieve. Because of the nature and objectives of the group we are trying to take out, we had to have your cooperation and our ministers, who are quite used to dealing with each other, decided just this once it wouldn't hurt for our two forces to cooperate fully in this endeavour. So, can you just trust us for a few hours, put your disbelief on hold and see what happens when our two lots of technology work together for the common good?"

Parkhurst closed his eyes and shook his head as if trying to clear it. "Very well, let's give it a shot. Er, you won't start pulling rabbits out of hats or anything, will you?"

"Huh? No, no, it was my twin brothers who started Weasleys' Wizards Wheezes, not me. I'm the sensible one." Ron grinned crookedly at his odd expression and held out a piece of brick. Parkhurst grabbed it and had his first experience at portkeying.

~~<*>~~

As the Muggle anti-terrorist squad were being shown the magical ropes at the training arena, Vincent McIntyre finished a hearty breakfast and popped into his office for a few moments before going out to the Brimmers factory. leToya buttonholed him in the labs demanding to know where he thought he was going this bright summer's morning. After humming and harring Vincent told her about dinner the night before and Gilbert's invitation.

"Really? Well, that was good of him," the old witch said blandly, eyes shrewd and speculative. "Be sure to observe everything, even the smallest details, won't you?" she reminded him, brushing a stray piece of fluff off his shoulder and straightening his tie. "Don't do anything silly, will you?"

"Now leToya, I'm just going to look. Gilbert is wizard born and has Muggle-born grandkids too you know? His grandchildren would be just as much at risk as any of my family if someone is destroying Muggle-born magicals."

"True," she conceded, stepping back and allowing him to Apparate unhindered. Stepping into her own lab, she half filled a bowl with water and settled back to watch and record his visit to Brimmers through the scrying spell she had cast on his tie and shoulder. She had her own version of a remember-crystal that was just as efficient as the official version and a lot stealthier.

Unaware of the obscure spell, Vincent greeted Gilbert in his office and accepted the visitor's badge he was handed. The two men then strolled side by side into the huge automated factory that housed the manufacturing side of Brimmers Pharmaceuticals. If Vincent wasn't sure of what he was seeing, leToya was even more lost as conveyors and heavy duty pipes ran like draped spaghetti over the area. Huge vats of chemicals and silver cylinders of pressure vessels crowded cheek in jowl with catwalks and monitoring stations. The crowding and constant movement made it hard to get an impression of where the walls began and how big the area really was. There were very few people around and all looked the same as they hurried to their work, white coats, white hairnets and white rubber boots that squeaked occasionally on the metal grid-work floors.

Gilbert was an informative guide, pointing and explaining the operations as they penetrated deeper and deeper into the maze of bottle conveyors, dangling chains and capping lines, pill hoppers and vibrating counting belts. Vincent was very pleased to have the headset and earplugs Gilbert had given him as the noise was quite horrendous, rattling, banging, hissing and clanking. He pointed to a large silver vat with the Sleep Tight label printed on the side on a much bigger scale than they were used to seeing. "Is that the one?" he screamed over the row of the nearby bottle conveyor.

"Yep, that's the syrup mixing vat in question. The main syrup is stored in that vat while the active ingredients are fed in through this mixing point here, from that row of smaller storage tanks over there." He patted a console with a number of dials and buttons on its surface before waving vaguely off to the left. "If we need to introduce anything extra, it is injected in through this lock here, using this valve and is usually introduced directly into the syrup as it flows out here. The tubes then take the mixture off over there to the bottling plant to be bottled, capped and labelled for packing and shipping."

"And how often is something introduced to the syrup?" Vincent asked, turning to face the man and nearly skewering his left nostril on the tip of his wand. "Oh," he said flatly as he straightened.

"Once a week I test the syrup for quality control and introduce the week's production of direstium to the batch, usually at a rate of one litre per hundred thousand. That's the joy, you see? It doesn't take much to make a breeding colony and once established, it does its work quietly, destroys all vestiges of the magic then dies off when there is nothing left to feed on. Clean safe and painless."

"Why are you doing it Gilbert? Why are you killing so many of our kind?"

"Our kind? Our kind is a complete aberration, a mutation that is wrong and dangerous. You are always keen to ask about my daughter but did you ever wonder what happened to my wife? Did you ever think what happened to people who tried to ignore that madman? They caught her at home by herself and they tore her to pieces, eventually. They charmed her so that she could not die, could not stop screaming and could not lose consciousness. Then they ripped the skin off her and raped her, cut off her limbs and eviscerated her. There was blood on every surface in the living room, including the ceiling when they had finished and just to make sure I got the message, they carved it into her flayed hide and pinned it to the wall so I couldn't miss it! I walked in and found her like that and I had to release her from the torment as they left her charmed alive. And why? It was simply because she was a Muggle and was helpless to resist them. You've heard the saying that 'power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely'. Why take the chance, why not nip that power in the bud so it never gets to threaten innocent lives again. You've seen them, those so called purebloods with their high and mighty ways and infinitely superior attitude, just waiting to take over the world and make it kowtow to their every whim. Bastards are so much better than us they can't even unbend enough to see what is right under their noses but I'll make sure they are totally annihilated forever! Never again will one of those bastards rise to enough power to try and destroy the humans in this world. Never!"

Vincent shook his head and sighed. "Gilbert, surely you can see that it's wrong to poison innocent children. It is also wrong to kidnap and poison schoolgirls and schoolboys to make more of the filthy substance?"

"It cures them! It cures them of magic so they can go back and lead normal, productive lives in the real world instead of being forced to skulk in the shadows of Diagon Ally. Enough! Enough of your prattle! I'm sorry about this Vincent but I really can't afford to let one man get in the way of the great work. Stupefy!"

leToya slumped back from the bowl and gasped in horror as her old friend was levitated up and dropped into the vat of thick syrup. Still under the Stupefy charm, he sank through the thick liquid slowly enough to know exactly how long it would take him to drown in it. Horrified, leToya grabbed her wand and dissapparate, apparating into the factory in a small space behind the syrup tank. She prayed Gilbert had not heard the pop then realised that the tremendous noise would cover her movements as she cast levo over her unseen colleague and hauled him out of the pink goo. She could still see Gilbert leaning over the mixing console as Vincent began to emerge from the vat, spluttering and coughing as he came up. leToya winced and put more power into the spell as Gilbert straightened, rubbing his hand over the back of his neck. While the noise hid her activities, Vincent's spluttering had splattered his would be killer with syrup drops. He looked up, saw the pink coated body emerging and flung around wildly, looking for the source of the spell.

Gritting her teeth and sending out a silent apology, leToya dropped her boss and friend back into the goo and yelled expelliarmus, managing to duck the wand that flew at her head. She hadn't meant to put quite so much effort into it and ducked reflexively. Gilbert took advantage of her distraction to fling himself forward but leToya was quicker, stunning him as he launched. He hit the side of the vat with a mighty clang and lay still.

Panting hard, the old woman recast levo and pulled Vincent out of the vat, bringing him down to the floor as quickly and as efficiently as she could. He was not breathing this time, his mouth hanging slackly. Worried, the woman quickly brought him down to the floor and expelled the choking liquid from his lungs. It took a couple of very solid, very Muggle thumps in the chest to force his heart to restart and his lungs to begin pumping again, but after a few seconds of very hard work, Consuela leToya sat back on her heels and grinned down at her sticky, dishevelled and thoroughly chastened supervisor.

"Score one for the seniors," she laughed as they helped each other up. "So, where shall we take him, the Auror's headquarters?"

Vincent wiped a sticky hand down his face and shuddered dramatically. "Yes indeed. But first, let's make this potion disappear. After all, I have been swimming in it so it can't be very hygienic any more. Where can we banish it to?"

"Good question. Let's drop it into the sewerage treatment works, that is about the least magical place I can think of and I know it is not on any lei lines or in any hot spots. Our people were very careful to influence the Muggles when they were building it, if you remember?"

"Sounds like a good plan to me, my dear. Would you care to do the honours? I fear I am somewhat fatigued by my morning's exertions," Gilbert allowed, trying not to show just how tired he really was.

Giggling in the sheer relief, they emptied the vat with a banishing charm, bound their prisoner and apparated out to Auror headquarters.

~~<*>~~

After a few false starts and a lot of disbelief, the anti-terrorist squad and the Aurors were finally working together and learning respect for each other's methods. John shook his head when two of his best men were utterly defeated and handcuffed by tiny Fiona McDonald, all blonde hair and giggles. She, on the other hand had to be picked up and passed to the man on the top of the wall when the two groups tackled an assault obstacle course. Ron didn't mention that the small woman could just have easily levitated herself to the top as her helplessness made the Muggles feel much better about having her on the team.

"All in all, Inspector Weasley, I think it's going rather well," John Parkhurst said thoughtfully as they took a break for lunch, the two teams intermingling and interacting with each other freely.

"It is," Ron confirmed, offering the other man one of the sandwiches Desiree had made for him. "These sort of mixed operations don't happen often but in this case it's necessary. The offenders are sinning against both our cultures and need to be stopped. Once the prisoners are secure, we have veritaserum to use for questioning and then they are all yours. I'm sure the evidence will hold up in your courts."

"I don't understand, I thought your people had charges to lay against them too?" Parkhurst frowned, glancing at the other man questioningly.

"Oh, once we have spoken to them and know where the next link in the chain is then we will erase any traces of our culture from their minds and leave only their crimes against Muggles for them to answer to. Unless of course, one of them is a wizard and then he is ours." Ron's voice did not change inflection but John thought it would go very harshly with any wizard they found.

Shrugging off the feeling, he tapped the three dimensional model of the building they were going to assault. "My worry is the lack of cover in getting up to the building in the first place. Have your people anything that will allow us to get close? That's the trouble with summer nights, no darkness."

"No problem, my people will issue your people with invisibility cloaks. It will just be a matter of not tripping up or making a noise. The meeting is being held at seven thirty and they are expecting about fifteen people. My biggest fear is that they call off the meeting when they realise that Rosemary Killmonte has lost her diary. Oh, the woman attacked one of ours in the street in Oxford last night. Fortunately his girlfriend had the presence of mind to rip her handbag off before she could get away. You know how these things usually break, loads of careful police work, following leads, asking questions then some bloody amateur gets a very nice and unexpected break," Ron stated cynically and John laughed, all too aware of the usual course of events. "Still, the girl in question was the niece of a nasty bastard and was quick to call her uncle in to take over the problem. Severus recognised the break for what it was and acted accordingly. Mind you, he's old school and we'll never live it down."

John nodded and toasted his counterpart with his cup of tea. "Yes, we have old boys like that. Nothing is as bad or as dangerous as it was in his day and we young Johnny-come-lately whipper-snappers have no idea at all about real police work."

Ron could almost picture Severus saying something like that and burst out laughing as he nodded his agreement. "Yeah! Oh well, here's to a successful raid and collar for us all! The meeting is scheduled for seven thirty so I think eight pm would be a good time to start, plenty of time for the stragglers to get there and for everyone to get settled and down to business."

"Sound reasoning and I believe it is a go," Parkhurst agreed cheerfully.