Eyes flickering between Peter and Derek, Harry considered all options available. And there were only two options, both requiring he fight and either continue to fight and most likely die in here. Or fight his way out and run away.
Harry wasn't stupid enough to think that he could win if he attempted to stay and fight. He'd barely escaped alive last time and that was in a wide-open space with plenty of cover from trees. Now however, he was in an enclosed space, only two ways to move and they were covered by his enemies. There also wasn't anywhere to take cover which only made it that much worse.
Gripping his wand tightly, he watched Peter shift, his body moving in preparation to attack and Harry moved pre-emptively. Wand flicking out and firing two exploding curses in short concession, one left and one right.
It struck the ground at the feet of both Peter and Derek, throwing dust and debris into the air. With this Harry burst forwards towards Peter, cutting spells bursting through the smoke and there were a few sprays of blood coming from within. A few cries of pain and a shout that one of them had been cut down told him that he had killed someone.
Even so, a fist came round, striking Harry in the cheek and knocking him to the ground. However, he went with the blow and rolled to his feet, a bone-breaking curse firing off behind him as he continued to rush down the corridor.
"Don't let him escape!" Peter shouted, Harry sparing a glance to see them all bursting out of the dust and running after him.
Turning back to the area in front of him, he took note of the few dozen Werewolves that were coming out of the room. Magic burst out from his wand, spikes bursting out of the dirt wall and piercing those in his path, some managing to dodge it. However, the spells Harry fired from his wand as a follow up dealt with them in short order leaving the path completely open for him.
Behind him, Peter gave a nod his head to Derek and ran down a little side path, Derek and the rest giving chase. Suddenly the ground beneath them burst up, Derek and his comrades forced to manoeuvre around the new obstacles.
Dodging, weaving, jumping, and vaulting over the spikes that were aimed to impale them. Even so, it did work in slowing them down enough as Harry had already begin climbing up the ladder leading to the surface. As soon as Derek saw this he came to a stop, but another wasn't quite smart enough to recognise this trap.
He, moving forwards to peek out underneath and his head was struck by light. Suddenly he pulled back, screaming in pain as bubbling, steaming blood dribbled down from his eyes, nose, ears, and mouth.
It was a horrifying sight, something that caused them all to take a step back and wait.
-X- Line Break -X-
Pushing open the door to the shack, Harry clambered out and closed it behind him, even applying a locking charm for extra measure before pushing the door open in a mad rush. Getting out had been easier than he expected, but he didn't think it would be over just yet.
Now that the Werewolves knew that he knew where their base was, he doubted they would wait anymore. They certainly wouldn't just let him escape, not without doing anything they could to stop him.
No, he may be out of the base, which was certainly a positive, he was not out of the woods yet, both figuratively and literally.
Its then he picked up the sight of movement to his left and fired wands in that direction. The figure however managed to dodge the spells and went to punch at Harry only for him to dodge the blow. It wasn't a gracious dodge, Harry tripping over his feet and falling onto his ass as he looked up to see Peter skidding to a halt.
"Funny seeing you again." Peter taunted, a smirk upon his face. "I'm a bit sad that you tried to leave so suddenly, didn't even give me time to show you something, the last thing you'll see before you die. You see, we Werewolves have been evolving and I don't know the science or magic behind it, but I do know that it's a work of art."
Harry didn't get a chance to answer as he watched Peter flex his hand, sharp claws suddenly appearing. Slowly, Harry rose to his feet, cautiously watching as fur seemed to grow upon Peter's cheeks, his skin become almost leathery in texture and sharp fangs grow.
But most noticeable of all, was the bright red eyes that locked onto his own emerald, green eyes. "What do you think? Pretty cool, huh?"
'What the hell?' Harry muttered out, stepping back worriedly as he watched ten Werewolves appear from the forest and stand beside Peter. 'How the hell is he doing this? Can they all do this?' His question was answered when Peter took a deep breath and roared to the world.
Reflexively, Harry clutched his ears as the loud noise made his ears ring.
And after the sound began to die down, Harry opened his scrunched-up gaze only to witness the other Werewolves also having undergone a similar transformation as Peter. However, whereas his gaze was blood red, theirs were bright blue, similar to Malia's when she was particularly angry.
'Is that why they wanted her?' Harry questioned as he looked at the Werewolves warily. 'Is she and those like her the key to their transformation? Or was she simply an escapee? No, that doesn't make any sense she was a coyote in appearance, and she was a child when it happened. Plus, their transformation was triggered when he roared. Damnit, I don't have a fucking clue what's going on!'
"Well, shall we pick up where we left off?" Peter posed, Harry tensing up.
-X- Line Break -X-
Taking a deep breath, Croaker looked down at the unconscious coyote upon the floor. He had thought that Harry had reversed the girl he had learned was called Malia, so that raised the question as how she was like this. He had appeared nought but a few minutes ago when there had been an alarm Ward triggered, one that only happened when someone with hostile intent had begun attacking the base.
Croaker's initial thoughts were that Harry had screwed up and the Werewolves had learned of their safehouses location. Only that had not been the case and instead he found an out-of-control coyote tearing up his safehouse.
Putting her unconscious had been simple, she was just a wild beast and the attack patterns of a wild beast were easily predictable. Best thing to do was to take them out before they could attack you and that's exactly what he did. Conjured ropes tied around her front legs resulting in Malia being unable to move and then a stunning charm put her under.
Turning to the two Unspeakables next to him, he nodded his head to the coyote. They were both researchers, but lower level meaning they were expandable. He only brought two, but they were newest recruits and if the situation had been as bad as Croaker had expected he would have sacrificed those two in order to secure Harry's safety. He was the future of the Unspeakable Field Agent Department and under Croaker's tutelage would be the greatest Field Agent ever produced.
These incidents had simply been bumps in the road; Croaker had expected that much considering how little time he had been given to train in field tactics. Most of his training had been focused on expanding his combat skills and from what Harry had shared from his fight with the Werewolves in the forest, those were being tested heavily.
However, these would-be learning experiences that would force Harry to grow in turn.
The questions remain however, if Harry wasn't here then where he was. Pushing open the door to one of the rooms, Croaker paused as he looked at the dried blood on the floor. 'What did you find, mister Potter?' He questioned, suddenly feeling the ring on his hand grow warm, not uncomfortably so, but enough that it was noticeable.
Looking down, he saw the Triskelion glowing red and Croaker took a deep breath. "You two, with me!" He shouted.
Wherever Harry was, he was in danger.
-X- Line Break -X-
Crying out, Harry slammed into the tree after being thrown into it by one of the Werewolves. Despite the pain his body was in, he was capable of flicking his wand up, dirt raising up high enough into a wall that the two Werewolves who had been rushing towards him, smashed into painfully. At the same time, he spun his wand circularly, leaves and twigs shifting into spikes that riddled another one.
It didn't kill him, the fact he was still crying out in pain was a sign of that, which was unfortunate news for Harry. Since their transformation, the already impossibly high odds that were stacked against him even further.
They were faster, stronger, and more durable.
Their senses more honed to point no matter what he tried they found him.
It was dangerous game of cat and mouse and one Harry was losing badly.
"There you are!" Suddenly a clawed hand gripped hold of his leg, pulling him back along the ground and reflexively, he lashed out with a kick. It didn't even stall Peter who just laughed and picked Harry up, spinning him around and smashing him into and threw another tree.
The only thing that protected his body from being broken apart was the shield he formed mere moments before striking the tree.
As he did, the grip on his ankle was released and he threw across the clearing, rolling along the ground a few times before coming to a stop. It was then that Derek came rushing forward and Harry just barely managed to parry the blow to one side. As he did, both he and Derek looked at one another, neither making a move in that fraction of a second.
But it was long enough for Harry to notice something.
He pushed away, Derek not giving chase while Harry fired a spell that Derek leaned to one side to avoid. The Werewolf that had been coming up from behind wasn't so lucky, the reductor curse striking her and possessing enough power to throw her back while ripping one arm off.
She lay there, screaming out in pain as blood pooled out from the stub that had once been a hand. The fact she was still alive after that blow showed that their transformation also increased their durability, whether that was a good or bad thing in this case was still up for debate. However, Harry didn't get much time to think upon that as Peter came rushing forward.
Claws swiping out and while Harry managed to dodge the first couple by a hairs breadth, the next few weren't so easy. Luckily for him they struck against his Dragon Scale armour and didn't even leave a scratch, but when the twelfth swipe came a little higher, Harry knew Peter had realised that as well.
The first came dangerously close, the claws nicking his eye lashes and ruffling his hair. But the next one cut deeply on the left side of his face.
Harry groaned out, lashing out with a kick that fortunately struck Peter in the side, stalling him long enough for Harry to put some distance between them. It was then that he was tackled from the side, he and his attacker bursting out onto the edge of a cliff and Harry fought to stay standing.
He knew that the moment he fell down, that was it.
They'd swarm him and he'd be dead.
So, in that moment, all thoughts of magic fled his mind and Harry fought with his fist. Blows striking the back and side of the Werewolf but to no avail and it instead forced the Werewolf to push harder against him. Each step he took driving them both further and further towards the edge until Harry's backfoot reached the edge, coming upon loose gravel that caused him to trip.
With the Werewolf seemingly unaware of how close to the edge they were and so, as Harry's footing became loose and so, faced with no resistance from Harry anymore, they fell.
Both plummeting to the rocks below.
Bursting out of the treeline, Derek looked around the open space for any sign of the Wizard or the Beta. But a quick, cursory glance showed that they were nowhere in sight. With that knowledge, Derek then turned to look at the edge, picking up the sight of a struggle on the ground and then nothing.
Moving forwards cautiously, he looked over the edge and grimaced as he saw the two bodies laid out on the ground far below. Blood was seeping over the rocks and waves of water crashed down over them.
They were stuck in a small crevice therefore their bodies were never brought out to see. But they were pushed and pulled by the waves.
It was not a pretty sight.
"Is he alive?" Peter asked, stepping out into the opening, followed soon by the remainder of their Betas, six in total. Two had been killed in the fighting, one down on the rocks below while the other two were in various states of injury.
Derek didn't answer straight away, studying the bodies further and he picked up the sight of movement from the Wizard. His one, unbroken arm reaching out and grasping hold of a rock and pulling himself up. The wave of water that crashed into his back helped to carry him up and into a more secure area, but it proved he was alive, albeit barely.
"He's dead, they both are," Derek replied, making sure to keep his voice calm and steady as he did. Turning back, he walked straight past Peter and back towards the base. Peter simply just shaking his head in amusement at his nephew and following after him.
'Now with that Wizard taken care of, I can start focusing on the conquest of Britain. Should be simple and easy? They're a backward people and they're more than likely to do what they did in the previous war; stick their head in the sand. Beating them will be easy.' Peter thought with a smirk.
And when Britain fell, Europe would follow and just like dominos, the rest of the world fall into place. Werewolves would no longer be oppressed or hide due to the discrimination of Wizards and Witches. They would be the rulers of the world.
-X- Line Break -X-
Everywhere hurt.
The pain burned through his body at even the slightest of movement. Even the simple act of breathing, of inhaling and exhaling was excruciating. This was a pain he hadn't experienced before, not even Voldemort's Cruciatus Curse was as painful as this.
And with every wave that struck his body, his broken bones were jerked and broken further. His body carried back till he smashed into the wall rock behind him, then dragged towards the rock in front of him. Each time his body struck the rock his pain exploded throughout his body and he could feel his mind go blank.
'I'm going to blackout.' He realised, watching as his vision began to darken around the edges. 'No! I can't, not yet! Have to stay awake! Got to ignore the pain!'
Even as his vision was darkening, Harry focused on his mind, Occlumency shields clamping down all over, but Harry made sure to clamp down hard entirely on the feeling of pain. He crushed it, smothered it, and ensured that he could not feel even an ounce for it. And slowly, piece by piece, his body became numb to the pain.
It took him a good few moments to do that and once he did, his vision beginning to clear. The feeling of pain going away and unconsciousness disappearing along with it.
Shakily, he raised his one good arm, arm heavy like lead and shaking madly with a strain that he could not feel. But he continued to force his arm up, reaching up to grab hold a ledge and pulled. It was difficult, almost impossible to even lift his arm and now he tried desperately to pull himself up over the ledge and out of this crevice he found himself. It was a little higher up and it would provide him with a little more safely, helping him avoid the possibility of drowning in that crevice.
But that proved more difficult than he could imagine.
Thanks to Occlumency he couldn't feel the pain his broken body was in. Yet he could still feel how tense his body was, more specifically his left arm as he tried to pull himself up. Even just the grip on his fingers had on the ledge was all but impossible to keep hold of, let alone trying to pull himself up.
It was then that a wave of water crashed into his back and momentarily his shields faltered, and pain exploded throughout his body. Once more, Harry ruthlessly crushed that feeling with his shields and the water surged up, carrying Harry up onto the ledge and he laid there.
Breath short and heavy due to that single momentary flash of pain.
'Fuck, I can't die here.' But as he said that Harry's vision darkened once more. Even with his shields in place, he could not escape the damage his body was undergoing, and it was starting to shut down.
No matter how much he fought to stay awake, Harry couldn't stop it.
-X- Line Break -X-
When Gareth Greengrass had received a letter in the early mornings of the hour he had been surprised. While an Unspeakable, his seniority and position as one of the main sources of funding for the organisation gave him a little more leeway than others.
It was not uncommon for Gareth to spend weeks at home, dealing with the political business that came with being head of the Greengrass family and spending time with his family. Then he would spend a long stint of time in the Department of Mysteries doing his research. Luckily for him, his area of research allowed him to take long periods away and come back with a fresh mind. To look at it differently than before.
He had been sat down at home with his two daughters, Daphne, and Astoria, enjoying breakfast together when the letter had arrived, requesting his immediate return to the Department of Mysteries.
Gareth knew that it had been incredibly important when Croaker himself, stressed that his presence was needed specifically.
And so, it had been with a heavy heart that he had left his young daughters and made his way to the Department of Mysteries. He didn't want to, especially not while mourning the death of his wife during the Second Blood War, but he hadn't had much in the way of choice.
When he arrived in the Department of Mysteries, Gareth was instantly directed to the medical centre and there, laying on an operating table, was Harry Potter. The young man had been a mess, with dozens of broken bones, ruptured muscles, and even internal bleeding. To say his survival was a miracle was an understatement.
However, Gareth was one of the most gifted medical Wizards in the Department of Mysteries and had researched heavily in the medical field. Even looking at Muggle methods and trying to incorporate magic in the process. It was not as fantastical or as amazing as the research performed by other Unspeakables, but it had certainly saved Harry's life and worked well in helping the lives of many around the country.
Already, Kingsley was introducing numerous methods, potions, rituals and spells into hospitals and the training of Healers. It was something Fudge, and his successor had refused to do, influenced, or directly controlled by Purebloods.
Sighing heavily, Gareth reached one hand up and wiped his brow, his gloves and medical overalls covered in the blood of his patient. Harry had fought hard to stay alive, and Gareth had worked hard to ensure that he did, but it had been a close call on many occasions. Yet, he had succeeded, and Harry was in a stable condition.
"How long until he will be combat ready?" Croaker asked as he walked into the medical centre.
Gareth looked at him, almost conveying his disbelief at the lack of care Croaker possessed about Harry's condition. "He's stable, for now. The fact he survived long enough for you to find him and bring him here alone is a miracle. The fact that he survived the operation is even more so. But he is in no condition to move out of this room for days, let alone enter the field in anything less than two weeks."
"That's too short."
"That is the best I can do." Gareth exasperatedly cried out. "If I was to administer anything other than supplementary healing spells and potions, we don't know what kind of long-term or short-term problems that would have on him."
Croaker said nothing, turning away from Harry to look at Gareth, silently demanding answers.
"We've already had to alter normal potions to better suit Harry due to the constitution of his blood," Gareth said, indicating to the Phoenix Tears and Basilisk Venom. "Now I'm finding traces of Lycanthropy within his blood as well. That is a powerful mixture right there and we don't know what giving potions of any kind could do to him. You could kill him without even realising it. You asked me here for a reason, let me do my job."
Croaker didn't reply straight away. "Lycanthropy? I wasn't aware he was bitten or that there was a Full Moon?"
"There wasn't. No Full Moon and no bite just scratches."
"So, no Full Moon and no bites yet still a passage of the Lycanthropy virus. Interesting, very interesting." Croaker muttered.
"Did you not hear I word I just said?" Gareth asked.
"I heard you." Croaker replied. "However, I cannot afford to have my only Field Agent out of action when I have two hundred elite Werewolves plus an Alpha arriving in an unknown timeframe. They could be arriving tomorrow for all I know, and I cannot access mister Potters' memories or his mind because he shut his mind down."
It was a common tactic employed by many Field Agents and those skilled in Occlumency when the body was undergoing extreme periods of pain and torture. All it required was simply shutting down the mind to the point they almost seemed to be in a coma.
"So, I don't have the luxury of waiting. How long until he can be made combat-ready."
"Without taking any risks, two weeks and I will assure you that he will in perfect condition. There will be no complications or the possibility of long-term effects." Gareth answered.
"And with risks?"
"With calculated risks?" Gareth's face twisted showing his displeasure. "A week, but like I've said it- "
"-Get it done, you have one week." Croaker interrupted, shutting Gareth's argument down before he could continue. "Think of your daughters, Gareth. Mister Potter and the Auror department is the only thing between them and the Werewolves." What Croaker did not need to say was that the Auror department was in a serious mess at this moment in time.
Kingsley had laid off my corrupt Aurors as his first act, cutting his force down by almost two thirds. While he had nearly five times that number in recruits from those whose miscellaneous and useless departments in the Ministry had been shut down, it was still an incredibly underequipped and undermanned force.
Saying no more on the matter, Croaker turned on his heel and walked away, Gareth watching him with a frown.