#culturewars (culturewars) wrote in cultureic, @ 2016-07-25 20:13:00 |
|
|||
Igor Karkaroff dropped his glamorous disguise the moment the fun began. (The Ministry really should have done a better job vetting the night's caterers; if anything, they had this coming.) The chaos allowed him to escape up to the halls of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, so familiar after the weeks they'd held him there before his trial. He had a task. He had records and information to secure and destroy. He wasn't about to let the nicely-dressed couple, gaining on him with each step, ruin that for him. He threw a Glacium Circulo behind him to impede their path and give him time to break through the security of the records room. Afon’s grip on his wand went white-knuckled with anticipation as the Death Eater’s spell came shooting towards him and Cora. A ring of ice curved around them, catching on his ready Shield Charm and pressing in on them. Even as Cora cast another at his side, adding the strength of hers to his, the shield started to buckle under the weight of the ice. With a sharp inhale, Afon released it, sending a Blasting Curse on the fallen spell’s heels before the ice could press in any further. Shards of ice flew everywhere and a quick flick of his wand scooped several of the larger shards up so he could send them at the Death Eater’s back. A few of the shards slammed into Igor's back. His shoulder slumped in annoyance as he had to turn from his task to face the couple again. Not just a few poor escapees hiding from the fighting in the atrium, then. He rolled his shoulders a couple of times, readying for a scrum. This would be good. He hadn't had a proper one since the night he was arrested. He grinned widely, then shot a burning curse at one of them and a freezing curse at the other. It made for nice couple's symmetry. It was Cora’s turn to cast a shield, her body going rigid with the effort she funneled into it. She knew they wouldn’t be able to rely on shields against someone willing to use dark magic and not particularly not when she had to do it in heels and a ball gown. Dropping her weakened shield, she shot off a stunner before aiming her wand at the shards of ice at the Death Eater’s feet. A moment after another spell left her wand, the ice changed shape and soon, a small swarm of doxies had Igor in their sights. Something almost like amusement lit Igor's features. What a delightful and strange little spell. The doxies gathered themselves around his ankles, biting in at his shoes and robes. It was an annoyance, but he had a job to do. His wand aimed not at the couple, but the corridor walls next to them. The plaster and drywall broke off easily (cheap; surely their new regime would replace the halls of their new home and headquarters with something better) and at Igor's direction, the pieces pushed in to encase the witch. The plaster tightened, filling in gaps and melding back together into a cast. Out of the corner of his eye, Afon could see Cora being encased in what was formerly the wall and he felt a frisson of panic before he shoved it aside to focus on Igor. If he wanted to go around making statues of people, Afon was going to use it to his advantage. A flick of his wand and a silent Aguamenti sent a wave of water at the Death Eater’s feet which he followed with a bolt of lightning from his wand. If Afon was panicking, Cora was having a heart-attack as the plaster encased her legs. She tried frantically to bat the drywall away before it could climb any higher but she was rooted to the spot. Swallowing down her anxiety, she shot a second bolt of lighting to meet her husband’s while trying to keep her balance. The twin bolts coursed through Igor, throwing him back against the door behind him. He slumped to the ground, momentarily stunned and with every ounce of him aching from the current. The doxies bounced off the floor as the excess electricity jolted through them. Blinking, he reached up behind him, trying to put his hand on the doorknob. After a couple of tries he grabbed it. Locked, naturally. Igor sighed and used the obstacle to pull himself to his feet. One lazy conjunctivitis curse at the man to keep him distracted, and an unstable Igor turned his focus on blasting the damn door open. While Igor had been distracted with being electrocuted, Afon had started to prod his wand at the plaster around Cora, transfiguring it into sand that flowed down to Cora’s plaster feet. He’d been distracted and the curse the Death Eater sent hit. One of his hands went to his stinging eyes and blindly, he shot a freezing spell in the general direction of Igor’s wet feet. Cora gasped when the spell hit Afon and turned a glare on the Death Eater as her husband recoiled. Kicking her way out of the remaining plaster at her feet, she stumbled forward, wand extended. As her target blasted the door to the records room open, she shouted, “Stop! DMLE! Impedimenta! Accio wand! Confundo!” The flying door was impeded, stopping shy of hitting the pair but following its trajectory just slowly enough that it impeded their view of Igor as well. The confundus, on top of the already singed and jolted Igor's other woes, left the Death Eater slow to get into the records room, but he forced himself to focus only on his plan: get in, seal the room, destroy criminal records of the Death Eaters and their supporters. A contingency in case the rest went wrong. He leaned against one file cabinet for support, then murmured a spell as he traced the outline of the hole he'd blasted with his wand. As he pointed, the edges of the hole began to glow green. When the circle was finally complete, a shimmer of green filled the area where once the blasted door stood. Igor waved to the Hitwizards on the other side, grinning. Now that Cora was free, Afon bounded forward, wand at the ready. He narrowed his still stinging eyes first at Igor’s wave and then at the unfamiliar green cutting him and Cora off from the Death Eater. The closer he got to it, though, the more his eyes started to burn. It took him a moment to realize it was actually making all of him burn as blisters started to pop up along the backs of his fingers where they were looped around his wand. Staggering away and then into a wall, Afon swore. They’d failed. Running in high heels wasn’t something Cora would’ve recommended and as she came up quickly behind Afon, one of her shoes buckled beneath her. She pitched forward into the doorway and recoiled with a loud yelp as blisters spread across her arms and neck. The pain was excruciating, leaving her gasping for air. In a moment of irritation, she kicked off her shoes and threw them through the doorway at the Death Eater. It wasn’t the time or the place, but Afon couldn’t help but sputter a laugh as his wife’s shoes flew threw the gaping hole where a door had been. There was nothing they could do about this, but they could get someone else or even help someone else. So he caught Cora’s eye and jerked his head at another corridor. He didn’t wait for her to acknowledge him before setting off. After giving the Death Eater a final glare, Cora was off right behind him. They probably needed to find her a new pair of shoes anyway. The battle had the momentum, the feel of something life-changing, and Remus had arrived with his heart in his throat, adrenaline and determination carrying him through the surging crowd of people. There were Death Eater robes everywhere, but Remus had headed for the DMLE. It was important to be there, to stop them: there were Death Eaters in custody and they needed to not get out. One of them had killed Anita. It was important they didn’t get to leave. Spells flashed over his head and Remus tried to block any stray ones that came his way, the charm for the shield spell constantly falling from his mouth. He turned a corner and nearly ran straight into a Death Eater, his chin colliding with their shoulder. “Oh, sorry,” he said and then he saw the mask and said, “Never mind! Actually!” Wand pressed against her ribs, he sent a blasting curse at her. Well this wasn’t what Prudence wanted at all!! Frankly, Prudence was having a lovely time, aiming curse after curse in the chaos from her position in the DMLE. With all the frustrations in her life lately, she was looking forward to getting out a little aggression. But that didn’t mean someone trying to blast her from close range! Prudence immediately flung herself out of the way, the man’s apology being just enough of a head’s up, but the desk it blew up instead sent bits of wood and metal flinging into her and that was hardly pleasant. “You’ll be sorry when I’m done with you!!!” she screamed, before aiming a bone-shattering curse at the man. Remus slammed his shield up almost the second the girl started speaking — her high pitch was really a very good alert — and the curse mostly landed. Mostly because the shield missed his elbow. Behind his eyes, white light exploded and Remus let out a loud groan of pain. The wild thought struck him that they really needed to step calling it the funny bone because there was certainly nothing funny about the sudden urge to vomit that was rolling through him as he felt, then saw fragments of bone. His vision swam for a moment, but he barely had a moment. He couldn’t dwell. Throwing himself away from the Death Eater, he sent a fireball at her. “I doubt I’ll be sorry about anything here,” he wheezed out. “Probably because you’ll be dead!!” was Prudence’s quick reply as she slammed up a shield of her own, one that wasn’t as strong as she would have liked as flames licked at the robes covering her arm and setting them aflame. It wasn’t hard to extinguish them, but by the time she did, she knew she had some burns to contend with. But she ignored that for now, shooting off an acid spell and hoping it would melt the man’s face off. Remus had never realised before that parts of the DMLE were so narrow and cramped, but it was impossible not to think about when spells were being thrown at him. He started to form the incantation for the shield charm, but wasn’t quick enough. The Death Eater’s curse hit him, splashing acid on his leg. The reaction, the pain, was instantaneous as it started to eat at the skin near his knee and he wobbled, suddenly not really able to support his own weight. Flinging his hand out, he grabbed onto a file cabinet to support his weight, just for a moment, using his wand to fling another straight at the Death Eater. The file cabinet crashed into her, knocking her to the floor and breaking her already burned arm with a sickening crack. The pain was momentarily dizzying — but only momentarily — and she was already on the floor anyway! So she sent off a series of slicing hexes as she pushed herself off the ground. Remus managed to deflect most of the hexes, although one caught him slightly in the hand, blood dripping and slackening his grip on the wand. He swore and sent a flurry of snow at the Death Eater to distract and blind her. “SNOW????” Prudence shouted, incredulous. But it certainly was distracting, and the gauging spells she sent in Remus’s direction were terribly aimed as a result. “What on earth is wrong with you???” He barely needed to bother with a shield charm to deflect the spells coming his way and Remus set his mouth into a grim, determined line as he sent a bone weakening spell at her ankles. “Death Eaters like you killed my mother,” he said, harshly, “and they keep attacking my friends.” Oh. As soon as the realization hit, Prudence couldn’t stop herself from laughing. “Hi, Remus!” she greeted cheerfully, even as his spell hit one of her ankles and she found herself needing to lean against the wall for added support. She supposed it was possible that she was wrong — the Death Eaters had killed a lot of mothers over the years! But she hoped she was right. It made the moment so much better. And then she aimed her wand to rip Remus’s earring painfully out of his ear. Annie was rethinking her occupational choice at this point, although she really should've the second the fighting began and spells started flying everywhere. Or when she had decided to head towards the DMLE to get a better look; she was a Ravenclaw, she really shouldn't have prioritized that at the moment. No, it had taken until now, as she turned the corner, skidding to a stop in front of a file cabinet tossed to the side, that she wondered if she could do something different – a tour guide in the Himalayas maybe. There was a fight in front of her and there was barely enough time to assess the scene before she sent a series of Stunners at the Death Eater. Blood was pouring from his ear, mostly a flesh wound but one that had hurt, the skin completely ripping away. Remus yelled out and stumbled backwards, hand clamped around his ear, heart pounding as he looked at the Death Eater. The Death Eater who had said his name. Who knew him. Remus stared at her and thought, then hissed, “Prudence.” It wasn’t quite lost in the barrage of stunners from the newcomer. Prudence was almost sorry for the appearance of Annie. It was just so fitting that she was dueling Remus of all people and she had every intention of killing him — if she could. It would get in the way a bit of the grand master plan she had, but if opportunity knocked… Well, she could kill Annie too, she supposed. Throwing a shield up against the stunners, Prudence sent her own fireball at Annie before shooting the killing curse towards Remus. Remus heard the incantation, saw the flash of light, and dived. At this point it felt like a practiced movement but there was still fear clinging to him, which he tried to ignore. He could think about it later. He would have to think about all of this later. Pointing his wand at Prudence’s weakened ankles, he sent a blasting curse at her. The quick succession of spells from Prudence did a lot to minimize the full brunt of the fireball that eventually caught her. Within the panic that seized her at the sight of the Killing Curse (because of course there would be Killing Curses being thrown around; they probably used them like they were Summoning Charms), it had helped her run away from most of it, although when it hit her, it engulfed her side, the material of the fabric there catching fire immediately and burning through to her skin. Annie jumped around, screamed a little, and quickly, shakily put out the fire. It left a burn that scorched even when she stayed still, but she gritted her teeth and searched her brain for a spell. Not used to dueling, she sent a lightning spell, weaker than necessary for effectiveness, and scrambled closer for better aim before sending another one. Annoyed that her killing curse had missed, Prudence barely managed to push herself out of the direct fire of the blasting curse. But the blast sent bits of tile from the floor everywhere and a piece connected with her ankle anyway, causing it to snap and sending her right back to the floor. Which was very annoying!! The movement did help her avoid the lightning spells though — for the most part. The second grazed her side, sending shocks throughout her body that undoubtedly was doing terrible things to her hair. There was a pause before she could get a spell out, sending a bone shattering curse towards Annie and then a blasting one haphazardly in Remus’s direction. The response and recovery time Death Eaters had was annoyingly fast. Would it kill them to wait a few minutes before going back to the attempting to kill them thing? Even just one minute would be fine! The curse hit her left wrist and she could hear the bones breaking before she felt them and pain shot up her arm. She knew she had to get out of there, but she was the one who had run in and gotten involved, so she wasn't about to just abandon Remus like that. If they could just force the Death Eater to leave – she looked around quickly; the DMLE was in disarray, chairs thrown around, filing cabinets haphazard, walls with holes blasted into them. Silently apologizing to the maintenance guys, Annie pointed her wand at the ground in front of Prudence, casting a spell that would start digging a trench. Bits of the floor started unearthing itself, the tile breaking in pieces without any pattern or care, and soon it was rising, like a small wave that was trying to create a barrier between them. Remus leaned heavily against the wall, trying to keep weight off the leg the acid curse had splashed on, trying not to lean on his broken elbow. The dust forming from the creation of Annie’s trench made him gasp and cough, but he nodded at her, a smile spreading across his face with delight. It was a good idea. It would keep her away. He could help get people out. Slashing his wand through the air, he joined in, the floor lifting itself higher, faster. It took Prudence a moment to understand what it was they were doing. And then, suddenly, she understood it all too well. “ARE YOU TOO AFRAID TO FIGHT ME, REMUS???” she screamed above the sounds of them creating their floor barrier as she pulled herself up onto her non-broken foot. But she wasn’t in any position to try and go after them — not with this much of an obstacle in the way, when her ankle and arm were already broken. “I’M STILL GOING TO KILL YOU!!!!!!” As if to prove her point, she aimed a final killing curse above the debris, but she didn’t really think it had a hope of landing and she didn’t wait to hear if it had before she fled. Remus watched the green light hit the ceiling, leaving a dent in its wake. It was too far from him and for once that instinctual fear barely had time to gather before it disappeared. He stared at the barrier they had created, frowning deeply, bone deep hatred flowing through him. “No fucking chance, Prudence,” he spat at the wall and then he turned, slowly, gingerly, towards the woman who had walked into the fight. Staring at her, Remus managed a smile he knew wasn’t his own, although he didn’t know how good any glamour was going to do now. “I’m not Remus?” he said, shakily, but it dissolved into a laugh as he limped towards her. “Are you okay?” Ordinarily, Annie would've questioned it, because it clearly didn't match and he didn't try very hard to convince her otherwise, but now, she was tired, her wrist was shattered, and her side was still pulling with a burn that wasn't letting up. So she nodded, offered him a weak smile, and said, "Okay. I could be better, but…" She shrugged. "Is it safe to leave now?" “We’ll get out,” he said, nodding, and then he started to walk. Every movement was slow, painful, and Remus’ teeth felt like they were going to crack he was gritting them that hard. “It’ll be safe. Probably.” Glancing at Annie he said, “Let’s keep our wands up just in case?” Uneasily, Annie glanced around the DMLE, afraid that if she looked any longer, someone would pop up and start flinging Avada Kedavras at them. So she nodded and heeded his advice, putting her wand in front of her as they started walking. She ignored the stinging in her side and cast a Shield Charm as well. "Better safe than sorry." The Dark Army was sweeping through the building like a tide of teeth and claws, and a masked figure walked amongst them. Avery coralled two vampires—he didn’t know their names, but the man and woman seemed to be siblings—and gestured for them to follow him as he headed straight for level two. Law enforcement. The DMLE. The ones who had fucking arrested his father and murdered William Rosier. It was time for payback. When he reached the department, however, there was only one person inside the entrance so far. There was fancy food in the Atrium and Mikey was missing it. He'd originally been one of the hitwizards assigned to work the Minister's Gala -- he'd rented a tuxedo! -- but with his recent unexpected change in temporary job duties to Interim Deputy Hitwizard Head, he found himself stuck in the office instead. He was trying to not seem upset about it. After all, he'd brought in donuts! ...And he'd eaten about half of the donuts that he'd brought in that morning himself. Mikey was back at the box of pastries again when the Death Eater walked in with his blood-sucking entourage. "Hooooly shit," Mikey swore as he threw the half-eaten bearclaw donut at one of the dark creatures as he readied his wand. The vampire hissed, batting the donut away with one clawed hand, then looked crestfallen as powdered sugar dusted its cape. "Is this some sort of terrible set-up for a joke?" he asked, already shooting arresting chains in their direction. "Two vampires and a Death Eater walk into a law enforcement office?" “Maybe.” The Death Eater’s face was emotionless behind that mask, a bricked-up wall dividing him from the rest of the world. Then, head cocked, he seemed to scrutinise Mikey more closely. “You look fucking familiar. Were you at Robards’ place?” With that charmed, affectless lilt to his voice, it almost sounded as if he were commenting on the weather: fancy seeing you here, long time no see, when was the last time? right, right, that dinner party at the Auror’s place. Outside, Jacob grunted out a curse as he took down another vampiric lackey with a well-placed stunner and then stopped, struggling to catch his breath and his bearings. They'd brought the Dark Army in. Of course they'd brought the bloody Dark Army in. And Jacob, like an idiot, had waded right into the thick of them taking on vampires, hags, and wolves until he was bruised, battered and-- On level two, apparently. Straightening up, he made for the DMLE's offices as quick as he could, knowing that if there was trouble, it was bound to be there. Entering the offices behind the Death Eater and the two vampires bearing down on them, the Critter made his presence known by raising his wand and taking aim at one of the vamps, his cry of "Ossiquasso!" sending a beam of yellow light from the tip of his wand that hit him dead centre in the back. Caught from behind, the beast stumbled, and Avery swiveled to look at the new arrival, his wand whipping up. While the Death Eater's mask did well to hide whatever emotion he was feeling, Mikey's anger was clear on his face. He was one of the pricks who'd attacked his coworker and his fiance, and quite possibly was the little shit who'd spent the last month hurting Lou. "Oh, were you there?" Mikey asked, firing off a blasting curse at the Death Eater. "Hard to keep you guys straight, what with the masks and all." He gave an appreciative nod to Jacob, who'd arrived just in time to keep one of the attacking vampires from descending on a terrified intern who'd taken to defending themselves with a pair of dull left-handed scissors. "Do you always fight as a trio, kid?" he called to the Death Eater. "Are the other two who were with you dead now and you had to outsource?" “Nah, they're alive and well and free. Seems like you’ve got a bit of a problem with your prison?” Avery wasn’t normally one for banter—his mind ran too hot for it—but there was something about this Hit that rankled and brought it out in him. He side-stepped in order to keep both opponents in his field of view: there was a beat as he recognised Jacob, but then he shrugged off the hesitation, firing a volley of Reductor curses at the Hit. Behind him, the second vampire, livid (“That was my bloody sister!”) took a flying leap at the Critter Deputy. Running on fumes after the fights he'd faced on the way up to the DMLE offices, Jacob was just a split-second too late to dodge out of the way of the vampire's assault, but he went down fighting; snarling and throwing elbows as the mass of muscle and fangs slammed into him. Even though he was tired, bruised, and battered, Jacob Sloper refused to be taken out like a punk by a fucking vampire. Even as he heard something snap and felt pain splinter up his side, he kept a tight grip on his wand and used his free hand to smack the vampire in the jaw as hard as he could, getting some space between them. Once he was free of the vampire's grip, he scrambled backwards and leveled his wand, "Candidus Ignis!" Mikey's wand was focused on the other vampire, firing off a "Colloshoo" spell that would keep Sister Vampire stuck where she was when the Death Eater's Reductor spells came flinging his way. Thinking fast, Mikey snatched a cast-iron cupcake sheet -- still full of blue and gold cupcakes -- off of the counter behind him and held it up like a delicious makeshift shield. It wasn't enough to keep the curse from blasting him off of his feet and into the cabinets, but it did take most of the hit, splattering cupcakes and frosting in every direction in the process. Flinging his arms a few times to shake off the frosting -- "I was looking forward to eating those later, too" -- Mikey shot a conjunctivitis curse at the Death Eater. Avery danced backward, now that he had both men levelling curses at him—a quick deployment of a shield spared his eyesight, but Jacob’s lightning was too quick for him. It blew him backwards, electricity locking all of his joints together into convulsions, rolling on the floor. His robes protected him from the worst of it, but he highly suspected his hair even stood on end inside his hood. Everything ached. “Fuck,” the Death Eater snarled, trying to get back up to his feet. The female vampire was growling from her stuck-fast position on the ground. Meanwhile, her brother had bounced back up and went straight for the Ministry workers again, tenacious and bloodthirsty. Back on his feet, Jacob stood his ground as the brother vampire bore down on them, deciding to bring an end to things before it got worse. Gesturing out towards the wreckage and debris the escalating fighting around the office had left in its wake, he called out a firm "Oppugno." and then flicked his wand forward, spearing the charging vampire dead centre through the chest with a broken chair leg. Grimacing as he watched the vampire drop, he reminded himself that it was necessary, gruesome as it was. Turning on the Death Eater, Jacob kept his wand held high and growled, "Give it up, we've got you beat." The vampiress was screaming and screaming at the sight of her brother dropping, and Avery glowered at the Critter and the Hit across the office. His boss. He could probably kill his boss, if he really really tried. He wouldn’t try to spare this one. But the two assistants he’d chosen were evidently useless, which left him effectively outnumbered, and he could hear the shouts of others approaching—Aurors, what if they were all Aurors? He wasn’t too injured yet. Time to regroup. Find more of the Dark Army. Keep moving through the building and see where else Evan might need him. “I don’t give up,” the Death Eater sneered, but then with a whisk of his wand, he unstuck the vampiress from the floor and pulled her along with him. She kicked the cupcake sheet on her way out, desultory, like a sullen schoolkid being dragged away from a fight. It was strange to enter a place he’d known for the past few decades, not as an employee but as a vigilante - a criminal, as far as most of the DMLE was concerned. Still, Alastor was a man on a mission: he resisted every overwhelming instinct to join the fray to help his former comrades-in-arms, instead leading the way down toward the holding cells alongside a far newer one. “Here, hurry, we won’t have much time.” Alastor said to Sirius, ushering the younger man through the door that would lead them to the friend they were here to liberate. It was dangerous, heading into the belly of the beast, but who better to do so than someone who knew it like the back of his hand? A trainee - Ben, Alastor remembered - that had been attempting to hold down the fort pushed past them, not even recognising his former boss under his heavy glamours. Alastor didn’t stop him. “End of this hall,” he said, nodding in the right direction. Jonah knew the DMLE well, which was exactly the reason he’d been assigned to help rescue the few Death Eaters (and Natalya). It also meant that he was more attuned to its noises, even in the midst of a battle. He heard intruders, felt them, a bristle of magic before he saw them. He barely waited a second to register who they were — no masks, no robes, not a familiar face, Jonah didn’t care how they were hurt, then — before his wand flashed, the hallway crackling with the force of the spell as he sent a blood boiling curse at the nearest intruder. Rescuing Gideon wasn’t going to be easy — Sirius had suspected the DMLE would be crawling with Death Eaters trying to do the same for the numbers they’d had imprisoned. Seeing that he was right made yet another case for killing Death Eaters instead of imprisoning them. It was the only way they could be sure they stopped them. With that in mind, Sirius stood his ground and deflected the curse with a shield charm. But the magic still rattled its way up his arm and he’d have sworn he felt the blood in his veins growing warmer. There wasn’t time to investigate. The Death Eater would attack again. So he swept his wand down the corridor, yanking picture frames and plaques off the walls to send barrelling toward their opponent. Alastor didn’t waste any time in adding to the flurry of objects hurling toward the Death Eater. He cast a vengeful Lamina, adding a flock of razor-sharp knives to the mix. It was kill or be killed, and he didn’t have much patience left for pointless attempts at capture. Jonah’s shield managed to deflect the majority of the objects coming his way, deflecting them from his face. A plaque hit him squarely in the ribs and he stumbled with the force of it, straight into the path of one of the knives the other body had sent towards him. He felt the sharp pain of its tip sink into the soft flesh of his abdomen. Jonah hissed in pain, but couldn’t stop to think about it. There wasn’t much space or time. With a flick of his wrist, he said the incantation for an environmental charm, a gust of wind announcing it before a small tornado started in the hallway, sweeping up the last of the knives, spinning them back towards the two coming towards him. Once he was sure the mini-tornado had started, Jonah sent a quick succession of suffocating curses at them. Had they been in an open room, the sight of a small tornado might not have been such a large concern. But in a corridor, there weren’t many places to hide. Sirius took quick stock of his surroundings, locating a door a few feet ahead of them. If they could get there fast enough — and it wasn’t locked — they could take cover from the worst of it. Glancing over his shoulder, he caught Alastor’s eye and jerked his head to indicate the plan before making a run for it. Wind whipped past him as he shouldered his way through the door, forcing his way inside to a very temporary safety. But as the surge of adrenaline wore off, he realized he’d been hit in the process. A knife in each leg, a splinter of wood to the shoulder. He barely felt any of it. Alastor gasped as a suffocation curse caught him, but managed to make a scramble for the door that Sirius had indicated. He followed the younger man inside and slammed the door behind them, only realising once he’d gotten through that one of the knives had buried itself in his back. “Oh, for fuck’s sake,” he said, in too much shock to do anything but watch the red spread across his shirt. Distracted, he debated whether to pull it out or leave it in before deciding this wasn’t the time or the place for this shit. “What now?” he asked Sirius, before giving the knife a haphazard yank and hoping he hadn’t destroyed anything vital in the process. “Dunno.” Sirius watched the other man remove the knife and reached for his own, wincing as he tugged them cleanly from his limbs. He gritted his teeth and attempted to ignore the pain, grinding out, “He’ll be waiting on the other side — if he even gives us long enough to come out.” He paused, an idea taking shape. “Let’s use the door. How’s your transfiguration?” “It’s good,” Alastor said hurriedly. “Let’s show him what Gryffindors are made of, then. A lion to make Godric proud?” Alastor grinned. He nodded. “I like the way you think. Together on the count of three, then?” He raised his wand. “One… two… ” At three, the door reconfigured itself into a mighty lion, greeting the Death Eater on the other side with a deafening roar. Jonah’s wand was pointed at the door, ready to blast it open, and the next it was pointed at a lion’s maw, open and roaring in his face. He stumbled back, surprise bursting through him, and the lion followed, its teeth sinking into his shoulder. Jonah let out a yowl of pain, a deep, horrific sound, and he buried his wand in the animal’s fur, blasting it back, right into the room the vigilantes had been in. Unfortunately, the lion’s teeth were still buried in his shoulder: Jonah went with the animal and the tearing of flesh as he tumbled with it was almost unbearable. Nausea rose in him until eventually he managed to disengage, blasting the creature again, sending a number of blood boiling curses around the room at anything that looked like it was moving on the edges of his vision. Sirius grunted as he fell back against a litany of cleaning supplies, taking the pole of a broom to the back of his head and groaning beneath the weight of the lion and the Death Eater to which it’d been attached. He’d only just begun shoving his way back to his feet when a stray blood boiling curse hit him, sending a burning sting through his veins that spread instantaneously from the place he’d been hit. The sensation knocked the wind from his lungs and he gasped for air as he aimed his wand in the small space, trying his hand at a nonverbal stunning spell and a croaked, “Depulso!” Alastor was struck by another of Jonah’s curses, and he let out an involuntary yelp as the boiling blood surged through his veins. He staggered forward, light-headed but determined, squeezing past Sirius and reaching out to drag him along with him, continuing down the hallway. Gideon’s cell was close; it wasn’t much further now. He stumbled dizzily, trying (and failing) to staunch the bleeding from his abdomen. It wasn’t much further. The banishing charm had sent Jonah flying backwards, his back hitting a concrete wall. With the wound on his shoulder and a lion still in the room, he couldn’t make himself get up quick enough. Air left his lungs and blood was coming too quickly from his shoulder. The transfigured lion didn’t seem to want to leave him and lunged forwards again, teeth scraping along his thigh. Swearing, Jonah slashed his wand at the animal, shrinking it down to miniature and stepping around it. He had to keep his breaths steady, measured, as he followed the other men out into the hall and down. They already had a head start, but Jonah flung a fireball after them, anyway. When they got to Gideon’s holding cell, Sirius knew they wouldn’t have much time. For whatever reason, Death Eaters always seemed to get back up, even when they were being mauled by lions. “Stand back,” Sirius said, training his wand on the cell’s lock just as the Death Eater’s fireball caught up with them. Thrown to the floor with all the air taken from his lungs, he had no choice but to shake off the impact and try to extinguish the flames as fast as he could. Gideon had heard the commotion coming towards him, so he’d been ready. Well, as ready as he could be when he had no wand and next to nothing to protect himself with. Even the bed was bolted to the floor. He’d grabbed the quill they’d given him for writing (he didn’t like the thought of it, but jamming a quill in someone’s eye would stop a Death Eater in their tracks, if he could get close enough). But at the command to stand back, Gideon assumed the person outside the door had to be a friend rather than foe, since a Death Eater would’ve just smashed the door open, not given him the warning. “Go for it!” he yelled as he positioned himself at the other end of his small cell. While Sirius busied himself putting out the flames, Alastor trained his wand on the lock, obliterating it with a concentrated blasting curse. The cell door blew back with the force of the impact, and Alastor beckoned to the prisoner inside. “Gid,” he greeted with a curt nod. “Come on, let's get you out of here.” Gideon stepped to the side and managed to avoid the door, then hurried out. Due to the glamours he couldn’t tell exactly who it was, but he was eager to leave. “Thanks,” he said, not wasting words. Jonah didn’t give any of them the chance to waste more. He careened around the corner, his breathing laboured, leaning against the wall, blood trailing in his wake where he’d stopped to rest. One hand was clamped on his shoulder, futilely trying to stem the blood, and he pointed his wand at the door that Gideon had just come out of, exploding it. Sirius had just gotten to his feet and given Gideon a nod when the door exploding, sending splinters of wood flying at them. He held up his arm out of instinct, taking the worst of it. But their mission was almost completed and the Death Eater didn't seem like he'd get much further. “Let's go,” Sirius said, ignoring the pain in his limbs to send a final spell — a slug-vomiting charm seemed fitting. Alastor hurriedly took off the portkey necklace Agnes had given him and held it out to the other two injured Order members. Casting one last, regretful glance at the chaos they were leaving behind, he spoke to Sirius and Gideon. “Let’s go,” he affirmed. In an instant, they were gone. |