#mc009

His musings were interrupted by the door to the medical bay opening, quickly drawing the attention of those standing outside. The doctor walked out with 003 trailing behind him, a sigh escaping the scientist.

“How is he, doctor?” the German man asked, 006 and 007 leaning closer to hear. Dr. Gilmore smiled slightly.

“009 will be alright. He’s just exhausted himself.” The group let out a breath they hadn’t realized they’d been holding.

“But why’d he pass out?” asked 002. “He couldn’t have done enough to wear himself out that fast.” Dr. Gilmore rubbed his chin.

“I have a few theories, but they all revolve around something I don’t really know much about.” The Doctor stated. Those present gave the man their undivided attention. “Black Ghost brought 009 into the program around the beginning of August last year-”

“Last year?!” yelped 007 in surprise. “Why on earth was he only just finished now? Surely you could have finished him sooner.” The doctor sighed.

“We couldn’t, but not because we didn’t have the needed equipment. At every step we had to alter or recalibrate the cybernetics and equipment we were working with for him. It wasn’t until one of the other scientists turned a scanner on him that we had idea of why.” The scientist led them into the room where 009 was laid out on one of the beds, a white blanket drawn up to his chest, his eyes closed and his expression peaceful. His scarf was folded up on a table and his boots set down at the side of the bed. He could have passed or any other sleeping teen if it weren’t for the wires connected to the back of his head. A monitor was set up by 009’s head with various colored lines on it, many of which Albert recognized from the many checkups they’d received while in Black Ghost’s care for things like fuel levels, blood levels, weapon energy levels, and other such things. But, running across the bottom of the screen, was one Albert wasn’t familiar with. The scientist tapped the line in question.

“This line represents a completely natural energy that 009’s body produced even before Black took him. One which, as far as we know, has never been recorded before.” The man stated, making Albert blink in surprise.

“A natural energy?” he asked, leaning a bit closer to the screen. The doctor nodded.

“Yes, based on what I saw while trying to work on him, this energy is constantly at work maintaining and possibly protecting 009’s body even when he was unconscious. Though its flow and levels seem to drop when he’s at rest as opposed to when he’s awake, much like a blood flow. It wreaked quite a bit of havoc on our machinery while we were working.” The doctor said, checking over the equipment by 009. “Somehow it could destroy our equipment whenever we accidentally set it off. The only machines it didn’t destroy at some point were the life support machines we had him connected to during the surgeries on some of his major organs. Like his brain and heart. If it hadn’t, we probably could’ve finished working on him in mid to Late-October last year instead of mid-March this year.”

“So, what can this energy do? Besides mess up your equipment, of course.” Asked 007. Dr. Gilmore glanced back at him.

“To be honest, I don’t really know. And it didn’t just “mess up” our equipment. After the energy was done with it, the equipment was completely useless. The circuitry was either melted or it just wouldn’t work anymore no matter what we did.” 002 frowned.

“And yet Black Ghost kept going? What if it ended up killing him?” Dr. Gilmore sighed, looking older that he already was (which was saying something).

“I asked the very same question, and that was when we’d gotten the final bit of proof that made us realize we’d been deceived by Black Ghost. The person sent to speak with us had stated that it didn’t matter, and they would just find someone else if our work with 009 failed.” Albert gritted his teeth in anger. So 009’s life hadn’t mattered to them, and that was what led to the doctor seeing the truth. “I think this energy is the reason for 009 collapsing.”

“But if it’s been helping 009 all this time, why did he suddenly collapse?” 006 asked in confusion. The doctor tapped the line.

“Because that energy seems to have dropped significantly since he was in the labs. I think he may have been using it up during his escape from the lab and our escape from the island. Whether or not he was aware of it, I don’t know, but that’s my theory. Since his body is so used to having large amounts of that energy, the sudden loss of it caused his body to treat it in a similar way to exhaustion. Simply put, 009 has fallen into a kind of recovery sleep to regain that lost energy. For now, he just needs to be left to rest and recover. And he’ll probably need some food for when he finally wakes up.” 006 puffed up, smiling brightly.

“Well then! I’ll just have to make something extra good for him then!” 002 rolled his eyes.

“With what? It’s not like we have a stocked kitchen.” 002 snapped. “We don’t even know what to do next!”

“I do have a place in mind where we can rest and lay low for a while. A good friend of mine, Professor Kozumi, lives right by the coast of Japan. With the ship’s speed it should be less than a day’s flight from here. I’m certain he won’t mind having us for a while.” Dr. Gilmore said, his tone placating.

“Will he have room for us?” asked 003. The doctor nodded.

“Yes, he owns a mansion near the Tokyo bay, he should have plenty of room.” The doctor turned back to the door. “I’d best give 008 and 005 the coordinates to get to Dr. Kozumi’s.”

“What about 009?” asked 006. “Shouldn’t someone stay to keep an eye on him?”

“As I’ve already said, 009 will be fine. He just needs rest.” Said Dr. Gilmore. “Though, you may have a point about having someone watch over 009. We really don’t know how 009’s power works…” Albert smiled.

“No worries, Doc,” Albert said, casually waving to the man. “I’ll stay back and keep watch. I call you over the transmitter if something comes up.” The doctor nodded.

“Ah, thank you, 004. I don’t think anything will happen, but it’s best to be on the safe side.” The Doctor stepped out, Albert’s fellow cyborg’s following him until only himself and the sleeping 009 remained. The German man sighed, sitting down on one of the beds next to the sleeping teen. He watched the slow, peaceful rise and fall of the boy’s chest. It was a little surprising, learning that 009 had some form of special power. Though, it seemed to do a fairly good job explaining why Black Ghost had been so interested in the teen. But now he couldn’t help wondering about where 009 came from.

Were there others with powers like 009’s? Did Black Ghost kidnap him for his powers? Did 009 still have family he could go back to? Friends? He’d have to wait until 009 woke up to ask. Assuming the boy would or could answer them.

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~~MAGICA~CYBORG~009~~

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Albert jolted up. He dazedly looked around, seeing the walls of their new medical bay around him as he blinked the drowsiness from his eyes. He must’ve fallen asleep at some point while watching over 009. Speaking of, Albert looked over at the sleeping teen. 009’s face was scrunched slightly, a frown pulling at the corners of his mouth, and his eyebrows furrowed. The adult frowned. He slipped off the bed he’d settled on and stepped over to the black-haired teen.

“009?” He murmured. The teen was mumbling in his sleep. He remembered seeing something like this before. Ah, yes, when he’d gone looking for 009 during their initial escape in the seaplane. 009 had been in the midst of a nightmare. He frowned. Was 009 having a nightmare during his recovery sleep? That shouldn’t happen when someone was supposed to be essentially unconscious.

009 probably hadn’t noticed yet, but each of them possessed a translator chip that had been built into their brains by the Black Ghost scientists. It was a kind of subconscious use, most of the time they used it without thinking, though there were times when they wouldn’t understand someone when they were being particularly emotional or if the chip had been damaged in some way (he’d found that out from experience). Considering the multicultural and multilingual nature of their team, it was very useful. But, when one of them was feeling emotional, those present could push their own translators to understand them anyways. For the most part, Albert couldn’t understand him, and could only pick out a handful words. But he could tell the teen was upset about whatever he was dreaming of.

He frowned. The doctor said that 009 needed his sleep, but he couldn’t leave the kid in a nightmare. He vaguely remembered something his own mother used to do when he was little. Carefully he leaned down next to 009’s head and started running the fingers of his left hand through the teen’s hair.

“Calm down, 009, you’re safe. Everyone’s safe.” He murmured softly, doing his best sound gentle and soothing. He didn’t actually know what was wrong, he wasn’t going to disrespect 009’s privacy by using his translator to find out what the teen was mumbling, but he hoped hearing the words or tone would help. 009 pushed his head into Albert’s hand, mumbling something he couldn’t understand. “You’re fine, everything’s fine.”

Albert kept reciting this mantra until, slowly, 009’s expression smoothed out into the same peaceful face he had seen earlier. His fingers brushed over a scar on 009’s forehead. He couldn’t help taking a closer look as he rubbed his thumb over it. It was small, shaped like a bolt of lightning, and it looked almost like someone had carved it into his forehead. And it looked old, very old. He frowned at how irritated it looked. Maybe he should ask the doctor check it out later. If it was old, then it shouldn’t be so red and irritated. To his surprise, the teen’s face suddenly scrunched, green eyes fluttering open. Albert glanced at the screen showing 009’s energy levels.

While 009’s power was much higher than when he’d first passed out, it still seemed pretty low compared to the other levels on the screen. The teen blinked drowsily up at him. Albert ignored the strange feeling that brushed over him. It was the first time he’d noticed that 009’s eyes didn’t really seem to focus on his face. It had to be because of how tired the kid probably was.

“004?” He smiled at him.

“Morning 009, sleep well?” The boy nodded.

“Sorta… What happened?” he asked, tiredly. He propped himself up, struggling to sit up. Albert placed his hands on 009’s chest, carefully pushing him back down. Green eyes swept, unfocused, over the room. “Where are we?” Albert leaned back.

“The medical bay. You gave us a good scare when you passed out earlier.” 009 rubbed at his eyes.

“Oh… Sorry…” He said looking up at Albert, who dismissed his apology with a wave.

“No need to apologize, I better call the doctor over the radio to check you over, make sure you’re alright.” The kid grimaced, but he didn’t argue with him.

“002? You awake?” He asked over his inner radio.

“What is it 004?” was the clipped reply he received.

“Is Dr. Gilmore with you?”

“Yeah, why?”

“009’s come to. I think the doctor would want to know.” He heard the red-head grumble about being used as the messenger.

“Yeah, fine. The Doc says he’ll be there in a minute.”

“Thanks.”

“Whatever.” Albert looked over at 009, who was now squinting at the monitor by his head.

“If you have a question, you’re free to ask it.” Green eye flicked over at him.

“What’s that stuff on the screen?” He raised an eyebrow at 009’s wording, his lips twitching in amusement.

“Basically? It’s a graph of your current health.” He lightly tapped the screen. “Your blood levels, the fuel levels for the cybernetic side of your body, etcetera. What’s interesting is that, according to the good doctor, this low line represents a strange energy that you had even before Black Ghost got ahold of you. Apparently how low it is lead to you collapsing earlier.” He noticed the way 009 tensed ever so slightly, and how the teen suddenly refused to look directly at him.

“Oh, really?” He asked, voice soft. Albert watched him.

“So you already know about it then.” He watched the teen tense even more. He sighed. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.” 009 looked up at him, surprise evident on his face. What? Did the kid think he was going to force him to spill all his secrets? “Everyone’s entitled to their privacy after all.”

The door opened suddenly, drawing the attention of both cyborgs. Dr. Gilmore strode in, giving 009 a smile.

“I’m glad to see you’ve come around, 009. How are you feeling?”

“I think I’m okay. A little groggy, but other than that…” the teen trailed off. The doctor nodded, seeming to understand what 009 meant. The elder stepped over to the controls by 009’s head, examining the data on the computer. Albert watched as the doctor examined what was on the screen.

“Hmm… Your energy levels still seem rather low, but it should safe to let you be up and about now. Though I’m still wondering about that power you have, I’m sure 004 has mentioned it to you by now, but I’d rather investigate when you’ve recovered completely.” 009 nodded, mindful of the wires connected to his head. Dr. Gilmore carefully unplugged 009 from the computer. “I wouldn’t recommend hurrying off. It may be safe for you to be up and about, but that doesn’t mean you’re in peak condition.”

“Yes sir.” 009 said softly, sitting up slowly. The man smiled.

“006 managed to put together something for you to eat-”

“Before you send him off, I think you should check that scar on 009’s head.” Said Albert. “It looks like something’s irritating it.” The scientist blinked before carefully taking hold of 009’s head, making the teen lean forward as he examined the scar in question. The doctor let out a soft “hmm”, tilting 009’s head slightly.

“Nothing showed up during the check, but you are right about it seeming irritated.” The doctor commented, lightly running his thumb over it much like Albert himself had done earlier. “How did you get this scar 009? It looks quite old. And such an unusual shape…” The green-eyed teen seemed to flounder for a moment before responding.

“I-I’m not really sure… I’ve had it for as long as I can remember.” He said, seeming uncomfortable. Albert raised an eyebrow at that.

“Surely your parents must have reminded you of how you got it.” The teen glanced at him.

“My parents died when I was very little. In-in a car accident. My Aunt used to say that was when I got it, but…” The room fell into an awkward silence. Albert wanted to kick himself for not considering such a thing. Of course the kid would be an orphan, Black Ghost wouldn’t risk being exposed by a kid’s parents if they went looking for him! He rubbed the back of his neck.

“Sorry.” 009 smiled at him.

“It’s alright. You couldn’t have known.” The kid said, sounding like the topic didn’t bother him at all. The doctor cleared his throat.

“Well, nothing seems to be wrong with it. But if it stays like this, we may need to apply medicine to it. Let me know if it starts bothering you, alright 009?” the green-eyed teenager nodded.

“Alright. Where did you say 006 was?”

How can he just brush that off? He just admitted to not having parents, yet he’s acting like there’s nothing wrong with it! Albert watched the teen as the doctor gave him instructions to the ship’s kitchen (Why would a war ship have a kitchen? Then again, soldiers needed to eat at some point), trying to puzzle out how calm 009 was about it. Well, he did say they died when he was little, perhaps he was young enough that doesn’t remember them anymore? And it doesn’t sound like he had much of a relationship with his remaining family.

But if that were true, then 009 probably never had a parental figure while growing up. That bothered him for some reason. He followed 009 out, still in thought, but wanting to keep an eye on the teen. The green-eyed boy didn’t seem bothered by this, peering around curiously at the corridor of the ship. Albert paused as that strange almost-brush washed over him again. He glanced around, trying to find the source, but only saw himself and 009.

“004?” Albert looked up at 009. “Something wrong?” He shook his head.

“No, just thought I felt something.” Unfocused, green eyes watched him for a moment before nodding.

“Alright. I wonder what 006 managed to make? I hope it’s not more barbeque bat or snake stew.” Albert’s lips twitched, trying to hold back a smile as 009 descended into pondering mutters. The fact that 009’s eyes never focused was starting to bother him. If the kid’s eyes were like his, he could understand it, but they weren’t. A new thought popped into his mind.

Maybe 009 needed glasses? It was an idea, but he’d need Dr. Gilmore to check. For now, he’d just keep an eye on 009.

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~~MAGICA~CYBORG~009~~

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When they’d finally arrived at Mr. Kozumi’s, it was roughly ten or eleven at night and everyone was ready to get some sleep. Even the recently awoken 009, but that had more to do with the fact that his energy levels were still pretty low. Professor Kozumi, a short, grey haired, glasses wearing man dressed in one of those green robes the Japanese always wore (they were called kimonos, if Albert remembered correctly) greeted them at the door, quickly ushering them inside as he pointed out a large number of rooms they could use. There were enough in the house for each of them to have their own room. 009 picked a room far from the rest of the group, which lead to 007 asking him why he didn’t want to be near them.

009 finally admitted to being nightmare prone (and to having bouts of insomnia), and suggested that if no one wanted to accidentally be woken by him moving around at night, they’d best choose a room away from him. Albert stowed that information away for later, it explained why he kept finding the kid in the midst of a nightmare.

Everyone picked a room (Albert ending up near 009, even with the teen’s warning ringing in his head), and collapsed into their respective beds, passing out as soon as they hit the pillows.

It felt like barely an hour when Albert woke to the sound of quiet movement outside his room. He peered blearily out the window. Huh, it looked like the sun had just started to rise, so it was roughly five or six in the morning. So he’d gotten roughly eight hours of sleep. That was good. Now though he was wondering who would be up this early. Was it 009? He didn’t mention anything about being an early riser.

He listened as a pair of surprisingly quiet footsteps padded past his door. He debated on whether or not he should get up to see who was moving around or if he should just go back to sleep. Morning hunger won the argument, leading to Albert forcing himself out of the much too comfortable bed. He’d almost forgotten how comfortable a real bed was compared to the Black Ghost soldier barracks.

Doing his best to keep his footsteps light, he dressed himself in his uniform (he’d need to get some new clothes. A lot of them would) and slipped out into the hall. It took him a few minutes to find the kitchen, but when he did, he found a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed 009 smoothly bustling around. It seemed the teen had decided to make breakfast for everyone. He raised an eyebrow at the amount of bacon 009 was prepping. Along with large bowl of what looked to be some kind of batter, sitting innocently to one side.

“Morning 009, did you sleep well?” asked Albert, stifling a laugh at how high 009 jumped in his surprise. The green-eyed teen spun around to face the German. The strange almost-brush feeling from the previous day washed over him again and 009 relaxed, seeming to recognize him. The kid’s eyes still weren’t really focusing right. Albert was sure he’d need to talk to Dr. Gilmore about it.

“004! You startled me! I didn’t wake you, did I?”

“Not really,” he lied. “Just reached the point where I couldn’t sleep anymore. Are you fixing breakfast?” The teen nodded.

“Yeah, I do it a lot at my aunt and uncle’s house. And knowing how to cook is a good skill to have. I’m just trying to figure out how much to make for everyone…” Albert nodded, filing the tidbit of information away. Something bugged him about 009 saying he used to cook at his relative’s house, but at least 006 wouldn’t be the only one who could cook for the group.

“Want some help?” the older male offered. 009 hesitated for a moment.

“I wasn’t gonna make anything fancy. Just some bacon, eggs and pancakes. But… Do you know what the others like to drink?” Albert hummed thoughtfully.

“We never really had a chance to talk about likes and dislikes while we planned our rebellion from Black Ghost, but I think it’d be good to fix some basic drinks for everyone. You know- Tea, coffee, maybe some juice or milk.” 009 nodded, slowly.

“Then, could you fix those? I think I saw some coffee mix in the cabinet over there, and some of Mr. Kozumi’s tea.” The teen said, pointing out the cabinet to the silver haired man. “I think there’s a coffee pot up there too…” Albert nodded, strolling over to the cabinet and pulling out the mentioned items. It seemed that the tea pot was there too.

He paused once he had everything out. Examining the bottom of the two pots, he realized that neither had the needed set up for heating water on a stove top. 009 glanced up at him from the newly started pancakes he’d laid out on a large, electric cooking pan.

“Something wrong, 004?”

“Ah, neither of the pots are meant to be used on a stove.”

“They should be microwave safe, so just use that to heat the water.” Albert fidgeted slightly. 009 raised an eyebrow at him. “You do know how to use a microwave, right?”

“Well, no. Not really. I’m not familiar with modern kitchens.” He admitted, already preparing to have to explain what he meant to 009.

“Don’t worry, it’s really easy! See that thing with the see-through door hanging below the cabinet over there?” Albert blinked, surprised that 009 hadn’t inquired further, but began following the teen’s instructions as he told him how to work the machine in question. “Fill the first pot you want with, let’s say for this group, enough water for five cups, and put it in. The panel of numbers next to the door are for counting the number of minutes and seconds you want the thing inside to be cooked for. For five cups of water, I think about seven minutes will do. So push the “seven” button once, the “zero” button twice, then push the “start” button to get it to start cooking. See? It’s very easy to use.” Albert took a small step back after he finished.

That had been easier than he’d thought it would be. Of course there wasn’t quite enough room to put both pots in, but it was definitely an easy thing to do. He glanced over at 009, watching as the teen started cooking bacon in an ungreased pan.

“So, what did you mean by a “modern” kitchen?” The German sighed. Well, 009 had warned him that he was like a dog on a bone when it came to things he didn’t know.

“The Cyborg soldier project, the one that made us, it actually started around the middle of the Second World War. About fifty or fifty-five years ago. Maybe Sixty. The first four of us, we had been made then.” 009 jolted, nearly losing the pancake he was trying to flip.

“What?!” He gave him a sad smile.

“But we weren’t doing well, technology couldn’t pull off what Black Ghost wanted at the time, and it was having some pretty bad effects on some of us. So they used special devices to put us into a stasis. Freezing us until everything was finally up to the standard they wanted, then pulling us out to refine us. After that they started finding new people to add to the program. Be glad we pulled you out before they could start “testing” you, 009.” The teen was quiet, continuing to work even as Albert explained this to him. The teen turning over the bacon, just listening to him.

“And a lot has changed in fifty years, from what little I’ve been told by the others… For the first four of us, if we went home, there probably wouldn’t be anything familiar to us.” Albert let out a soft sigh, struggling to keep his thoughts from his home. And everything he’d lost just before he’d been taken.

“I’m sorry for your loss.” He looked over at the teen, who gave him a small smile. “I could tell by the look on your face. I hope things get better from here. For all of us.” Albert smiled slightly.

“Yeah.”

The kitchen descended into a peaceful silence, with Albert occasionally helping 009 by setting up the next thing the teen intended to make for everyone. About half-way through, Albert was sitting at the table with a cup of coffee and 009 was finishing up the eggs and pancakes.

“What is that delightful aroma?” asked a new voice. Albert looked up to see 007 standing at the door, a blissful expression on his face as he sniffed the air.

“Breakfast, curtesy of 009’s cooking. It isn’t done, so I’d suggest sitting down.”

“Well, I certainly hope it tastes as good as it smells! 006’s cooking is wonderful, but nothing beats a good English breakfast!” the man cheered. Ah, right, since he and 009 had similar accents and facial structures, they were probably from the same country. “What? No hash browns?”

“Mr. Kozumi doesn’t have the ingredients for Hash Browns. So we’ll have to make do without them.” 009 said, glancing back at 007. Albert watched as the bald man slumped slightly. “I was able to make pancakes though.” The man lit up at that. Slowly the rest of the team trickled in, drawn by the smell of 009’s cooking, right down to Dr. Gilmore and Professor Kozumi. Even 006 seemed to find the smell enticing enough to not be bothered by the fact that he wasn’t the one to cook breakfast.

009 put the final plate down on the table, giving a small smile to everyone.

“Well, eat up. We don’t want it to get cold.” Murmurs of agreement echoed throughout the room, everyone digging in as 009 settled in the only open seat, which happened to be right next to Professor Kozumi. Albert took a test bite of the pancake, slathered in a generous amount of butter, and hummed in appreciation.

“This is well done, 009.” He complimented, nodding in thanks to the teen.

“Yes! Just splendid!” cheered 007, a wide smile stretching his features. “Thank you for doing this for us!” 009 dipped his head, a faint flush visible on his cheeks, as the sentiment was echoed down the table.

“N-not a problem…” The rest of the meal was eaten in silence, mostly because no one was sure what to say. At least they weren’t talking about Black Ghost.

“Uh… Doctor?” said 009, drawing attention to himself. “Do you know if-if our stuff is on the ship? The ones that were taken from us?” Dr. Gilmore nodded.

“Yes, they should be. We’ll check after breakfast to ensure everyone has their belongings. Though I fear only the more recent members will find their possessions beyond what they’d been wearing when they were taken by Black Ghost.” 009 nodded quietly.

Albert couldn’t help hoping that his engagement ring would be among the things on the ship.

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~~MAGICA~CYBORG~009~~

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To everyone’s relief it seemed that the scientists had been successful in loading their belongings onto the stolen ship. Their clothes and personal items had been put into small cases, with their cyborg numbers printed onto the side. No one spoke of the extra cases that may have once belonged to the now deceased men who’d orchestrated their escape, though Albert had spotted the sad look 009 had shot at them. Albert bit back a sigh as he dug through the small case of his original belongings that the rebelling scientists had hidden in the ship. While he may have regained all the possessions he’d had from when he’d first been abducted, they were far from good condition. They were slightly torn and sported old singe marks, but at least someone had cleaned the bloodstains off of them.

He glanced up at the small sigh of relief he’d heard from 009. The green eyed teen was holding a thin, lacquered stick. It was long (maybe eleven inches), and looked almost like it was made from Holly. 005 walked by, temporarily blocking his line of sight, and when he passed the strange stick 009 had been holding was gone. The older man frowned, shaking his head. It was a stick. There was no need for him to focus on it.

So why did he feel there was something important about it?

“Something wrong, 004?” asked Dr. Gilmore. Grey eyes glanced at the man. Well, now was as good a time as any to inform the Doctor of his thoughts.

“Have you noticed that something seems off about 009’s eyes? They don’t seem to focus when he’s looking at anyone. It’s almost like he needs glasses.” Dr. Gilmore hummed thoughtfully, quietly eyeing 009 as the teen rummaged through his belongings (Had the boy really been wearing those ratty looking clothes when he was taken?).

“I think I can see what you mean 004. Though I’m not sure how we could take him to an Optometrist and have his eyes checked. I don’t have a copy of his medical records, not to mention that he isn’t a Japanese citizen.”

“Perhaps I can help.” The two looked back, where Professor Kozumi stood behind them with a small smile on his face. “I’m sure my own eye doctor won’t mind having a look at 009’s eyes. We can say they went missing while you were here and that he needs new ones. While we’re at it, we can get some new, clean clothing for everyone.”

“What about money? We can’t expect you to pay for everything.” Kozumi chuckled.

“We’ll just call it an IOU for now. You can pay me back for it later.”

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~~MAGICA~CYBORG~009~~

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They hadn’t mentioned to 009 why they were headed to the town now instead of later, all three of them were sure he would either deny that he needed glasses or he’d say it wasn’t important. He had no idea what 002 thought was going on.

Albert watched 009 out of the corner of his eye as he drove one of the cars owned by Professor Kozumi, with Dr. Gilmore riding in the back between 002 and Professor Kozumi himself. The teen was gazing out the window quietly, just watching the scenery as it passed. He looked strangely fascinated when they’d entered the town proper. Professor Kozumi spoke up, giving Albert instructions for where to turn to get to their destination. Albert made a few small frustrated noises over the lack of parking spaces (were all Japanese towns like this?).

Finally finding a space, Albert parked. They carefully ignored the stares of the locals as Kozumi led them into the office. The entrance area was small and humble, with glass doors leading inside, with clean peach colored interior designs giving the place a warm, calm atmosphere. Pale peach seats were pushed up against one wall, with a coffee table covered in magazines in front of it. A young lady was sitting behind what Albert presumed was the check in counter, she looked up at them as the bell up by the door rang.  She greeted the Professor with a bright smile.

“Hello Kozumi-san! What brings you here today?” Kozumi smiled.

“Good day, Nana-chan, I would like to speak with Kimura-sensei about an eye test for one of my companions.” Albert saw 002 and 009 blink in surprise. Obviously 002 hadn’t been informed of why they’d left.

“Of course sir. Could I have the name of our patient?” They paused.

Crap, we don’t actually know 009’s name. He was only ever introduced to us as 009. How do we cover for this? A soft sigh came from 009.

“Potter.” Albert looked back to 009, who looked both tired and amused. Ah, seems he figured it out on his own. “Harry Potter.” Kozumi nodded. Albert couldn’t help thinking that 009’s name was surprisingly normal, though he really wasn’t one to judge.

“Put it in as Potter, Harry.” The young woman nodded and started typing in the computer.

“British?” she asked, her tone pleasant. 009 nodded. “Neat, Kimura-sensei has a cousin working on a medical degree over there. Says most of the time the weather’s awful, but the people are pretty nice.” 009 nodded again, a small, polite smile on his face.  Miss Nana then went on to chat about what she’d heard Britten was like, but most of them were yes or no questions, meaning 009 didn’t reveal that, technically, he couldn’t speak Japanese.

The door behind the desk opened and a dark-haired man in a white coat stepped out. His hair was a dark blue-black and his eyes a warm, friendly shade of brown. His demeanor was warm and pleasant as he approached the group.

“Ah, Kozumi-san. Good to see you again, I trust that nothing’s happened for you to need new glasses so soon?”

“Same to you, Kimura-sensei. And no, not for myself at least. You see, my friend, Gilmore-hakase brought some acquaintances of his to visit, but it seems some of their luggage was lost during the trip. And this young man’s glasses,” here the professor gestured to 009, “were among the item’s lost. I was hoping you’d check his prescription so we could get a new pair for him.”

“009 needs glasses?” 002 muttered in confusion, but he was quickly hushed by Dr. Gilmore.

“Alright, and what is my patient’s name?”

“Potter, Harry.” The Doctor paused, his eyes focusing on 009. For just a moment, his eye flicked up to 009’s forehead, recognition briefly flashing through his eyes. But it was gone almost as quickly as it came, making Albert frown in confusion. Why had the man recognized 009? Had they met before? But 009 didn’t seem to know him.

“I see, well then Potter-san, please follow me for a moment.” Albert sat down as 009 was led into the back room, Dr. Gilmore settling next to him. Kozumi struck up a conversation with Nana, leaving her sufficiently distracted.

“Doctor, did you notice that Mr. Kimura seemed to recognize 009?” Albert asked, keeping his voice low just in case. The elderly man hummed quietly.

“Yes, yes I did. But only he only took notice of him after he’d heard 009’s name. And, unless I’m mistaken, he also looked for that odd scar on 009’s head. Yet 009 doesn’t seem to know him.” He said softly, stroking his beard. “But he isn’t connected to Black Ghost, otherwise he would have recognized us the moment he saw us.” Albert nodded at that.

“Then how the heck does that cat know 009?” asked 002. The doctor sighed.

“I don’t know.”

It wasn’t much later that the doctor came out and asked to speak with Professor Kozumi and Dr. Gilmore. With Gilmore’s okay, Albert and 002 followed along. Kimura sighed, after the door to the back room was closed.

“I have to admit, I’m a little surprised by the state of Potter-san’s eyes. You were right that he needs glasses.” 002 frowned, raising an eyebrow at them.

“Aw c’mon, his eyes can’t be that bad.”

“You’re right, they aren’t bad,” said Dr. Kimura, “They’re terrible. Potter-san is far sighted, meaning he can only see things as are a fair distance from himself. At the range he can see, things like reading and writing are definitely beyond him. The closer it is to him, the harder it is for him to see it.” The man shook his head with a sigh. “I left him in the frame room, but I think you ought to have someone else pick them for him.”

Albert hid a cringe. He’d thought there was something wrong with 009’s eyes, but he hadn’t thought it would be something that bad.

“I’ll check on Ze- ah, Harry then, why don’t you talk about pricing the glasses, Professor.” He said. The doctor pointed down the hall, telling him which room to head for. He trotted down, 002 behind him, and stepped into the room. 009 was quietly browsing through the various frames, occasionally picking one up and running his fingers over them.

“Damn it 009, you should have said something if you couldn’t see!” 002 snapped, making 009 jolt in surprise and whip around to face them. The strange almost-brush feeling returned and 009 calmed down. The teen ducked his head and muttered,

“I never really had time…” 009 had a point there. Between being attacked by Black Ghost, escaping from island X, and passing out during their trip to Professor Kozumi’s, 009 really hadn’t had any time to tell them that he was having trouble seeing. And even if he tried, they were too distracted to listen. Albert looked over to the handful of frames set on the table near a mirror. 009 must have picked them out. All of them were thick, black (or dark brown) frames with the only real differences being their shapes. One circle, two ovals, and three rectangular rims.

“Why did you only pick the ones with thick frames?” he found himself asking.

“They’re less likely to break. With all the fighting we seem to do, it seemed practical.” Albert nodded, picking up one of the rectangular frames. He was keeping in mind that their fight with Black Ghost wasn’t over yet, and trying to plan ahead for it. Smart Kid.

“Have you tried any on yet?”

“Yeah. I don’t really know how I look, but I know which ones feel comfortable when I put them on.” He watched 009 pick up a set of thick framed, half-moon style glasses. The teen ran his fingers over the frames (Albert could only assume he was using his sense of touch to examine them), then carefully slipped them on his face. Green eyes blinked and 009 tilted his head a few different ways, probably testing how they felt, before nodding. Albert hummed thoughtfully. The half-moons looked good on 009, and he said as much.

“Do they?” 009 asked, fiddling with them slightly. “I can’t tell, but they do feel comfortable.”

“At least he doesn’t look like a Dip stick.” Muttered 002 from his position against one of the walls. They heard a chuckle from the door, looking up they saw Kozumi, Dr. Gilmore, and Dr. Kimura standing there.

“I guess those are the winning pair.” Said professor Kozumi, smiling. “Kimura-sensei, we’ll take the style of frame Potter-kun has on now. And maybe a second pair, just in case.” Kozumi pointedly ignored 009’s interjection of “You don’t need to do that sir!” as Doctor Kimura nodded.

“A sensible plan,” said Dr. Kimura. He calmly approached 009 and plucked the frames off of his face. “I’ll get started now, they should be ready in ten or fifteen minutes.” Albert watched the Doctor leave with 009’s soon-to-be new glasses.

‘No! I-it’s not!’ Harry cried, voice trembling.

“Don’t lie to yourself Potter. If you hadn’t insisted on both of you taking the cup, he’d have never come. He’d have never died.”

“009! Wake up!”

‘No, it’s not my fault! I-I didn’t know this would happen!’

‘IT’S NOT MY FAULT!!’

.

.

Harry jolted awake with a gasp, his head hitting something hard as he fell on his side. He heard an unfamiliar language above him. He wasn’t sure what was being said, but it sounded like someone cursing. He blinked dazedly up at them. Where was he? What happened?

Oh, right. The cyborgs, Black Ghost, his messed up eyesight, his lack of a wand. Now he remembered. He’d slipped away not long after their initial escape to get some shut eye and to let his magical core recover from the recent strain (he had no idea how much power he’d actually used, but it was better to be on the safe side). He’d picked the cargo hold as a good place to nap in private, but still be found if he was needed. A hand rested on his shoulder, bringing Harry’s eyes to the colorful blur kneeling over him.

Pulse.

The features belonging to 004 came into focus, his worried expression all too clear.

“Damn, 009, are you alright?” he asked. Harry rubbed at his eyes, knowing there had to be tears coming from them.

“I- Yeah, I’m fine. It was- It was just a bad dream. That’s all.” He said, the words having a hollow ring to them. He’d said that too many times, to too many people. He just couldn’t find the energy to do more than that. 004’s grip on his arm tightened.

“That sure as heck didn’t seem like a bad dream to me.” He said sharply. Harry waved him off, slowly sitting up.

“I’m fine! Really. I have dreams like that way too often for it too really bother me anymore.” Another pulse showed the disbelieving expression on the older male’s face.

“That’s normal for you?” The teen decided to change the topic.

“Why did you come looking for me? Am I needed for something?” He was sure the silver haired man was frowning at him, but decided to let him go.

“Sort of, we’re all gathering in the cockpit since we’re getting close to our destination.” Harry nodded and stood.

“Alright, best not keep everyone waiting.” Though he didn’t react to it, he could feel the assessing gaze burning against his back. He didn’t want to explain. Not yet. Though they may be working together, he still wasn’t sure he could trust the other cyborgs with the existence of magic, and all the goods and evils that were part of it. Using a mix of his limited sight and magical pulses, he was able to pretend he could see just fine and entered cockpit without any trouble. 004 followed close behind, but Harry was sure the man thought something was up. Even if he had no idea what.

The two walked in to see 007 giving a mini performance of the “abducted” scientist, humorously stating that he would have never made it on London’s West End. Sadly, though he knew where that was, Harry had no idea if 007 was right or not. The Dursley’s had never been fans of the theater. The Doctor (who’d introduced himself as Dr. Isaac Gilmore to Harry earlier) removed his glasses and gave the group a sheepish smile.

“I thought my acting was quite memorable.” Harry chuckled.

“For an amateur? Yeah, you were pretty good. But a professional? Not a chance.” He stated, a smile in place. He was far too used to hiding the days he had nightmares. Not even Hermione could tell unless he’d told her otherwise. Oddly enough, the Weasley twins were never fooled, and often went out of their way to make him laugh on those days. Dr. Gilmore smiled, probably thinking Harry was complimenting him. “Though I can think of a few mates from school who still coulda’ done better than you.” Like the Weasley twins for example.

Amused snorts and snickers echoed around him, and the doctor seemed to deflate before joining the laughter. He knew he was being a tad silly, but without the Weasley twins nearby, he’d have to find his own way of making himself feel better.

Harry looked up, the hair on his neck standing up. He could feel his instinct warning him of a coming danger. A few seconds later, an alarm went off. 004 tsked.

“There’s no possibility they’d just let us leave, right?” He said. The doctor nodded.

“Right. There should be small fighters in the cargo hold, you and 009 should have the knowledge needed to use them.” 004 nodded.

“Got it. C’mon 009.” He said, snagging the young teen’s arm and dragging him to the door. Harry only just realized what was happening.

“Wait, we’re doing what?!”

.

~~MAGICA~CYBORG~009~~

.

A few minutes, and a decent amount of nervous jittering later, Harry found himself inside a small plane. It was only just big enough for one person, and the only way to piolet it was to lay down in it. Harry knew he’d have to hold his magic pulse in order to use it (Something he really hadn’t tried yet), as his near sightedness prevented him from seeing the numerous buttons, switches, and leavers he somehow knew he needed. He felt as nervous as when he was first learning how to fly, but without the adult there to catch him and with a lot more danger. He swallowed nervously.

Pulse and hold.

The control panels appeared before him and he quietly started counting until his capsule-like plane was dropped from the carrier. He felt the plane be released. He counted back from ten, knowing that by the time he reached one, he’d be far enough away to safely open the wings of the craft.

“009, you’re diving!” Came 004’s slightly anxious voice over the inner radio. Harry closed his eyes for a moment, then yanked back the control handle, preforming a stunt eerily similar to a Worski feint. He let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding

“I’m okay, sorry for the scare.” He murmured. He knew 004 had been worried, so it was only right to apologize. Like when he woke his dorm mates at Hogwarts. He tilted the controls back until he was level with the older cyborg. Harry looked out at the swarm of enemies in from of them. What did people tend to call this sort of thing? A Zurg Rush?

“Your pursuers are Black Ace attack craft on autopilot,” the doctor said over the main radio.

“You hear that 009? Let’s take them out.” 004 said calmly. Instead of answering, Harry started firing. His overly keen eyes, even with their restricted state, allowed him to easily take down drone after drone. Surprisingly, his skills at flying on a broom seemed to translate to a plane fairly well, as he was easily out maneuvering the drones. He heard 004 let out an impressed whistle.

“Not bad 009, you’re pretty good at flying it seems. Wonder if Black Ghost programed that into you, or if you’re just a natural.”

“Dunno.” Actually I’ve always been a natural at flying, but I can’t tell you that. “While we’re on the topic, just what is Black Ghost anyways?”

“Wow, I’m surprised you’re cool enough to talk right now.” Harry chuckled.

“Naw, I’m just a dog after a bone when it comes to stuff I don’t know. And Black Ghost is something I don’t know.” 004 hummed.

“I don’t know much, except that they’re a large-scale death merchant.”

“A death merchant?!”

“Yeah, they sell weapons and arms to plant the seeds of war.”

“Oh, fantastic,” Harry said, his tone heavy with sarcasm. And now, because of me, they may have an idea of the existence of magic. Fragments of the nightmare from earlier pushed at the edge of his mind, but he quickly shoved them back. He did not need to be distracted right now.

Harry watched 004 suddenly bank left out of the corner of his eye.

“And where are you going?” he asked.

“I’ve run out of bullets. I’m off to the ammo store.” Was the completely serious sounding answer he received.

“Wait, what?!” Harry spluttered in disbelief.

“Just kidding.” Said 004, and he promptly used the wing of his plane to slice through one of the drones. Harry made a surprised sound. “This whole airship was designed to be a weapon, just like me.”

“Oh, I see.” Harry shifted his controls and started cutting through the drones as well as shooting them. He knew it wasn’t really something to brag about, but it seemed that he was pretty good at this. “That’s why they made us cyborgs, isn’t it? To use us as weapons.”

“Dah, that’s it alright. Like it or not, that’s what we are now.” Harry fell silent, and couldn’t help wondering if Black Ghost was really the first to see him as nothing more than a weapon.

.

~~MAGICA~CYBORG~009~~

.

After returning to the carrier, Harry retreated to a window seat away from the rest of the group. He knew they’d heard the conversation between 004 and himself, and would probably shrug off the distance as him trying to sort out the information he’d been given. They’d be close, but not correct.

He’d always felt something had been off about his years at Hogwarts. The way he always seemed to find the answer to whatever mystery appeared each year, the way only he was able to stop it, how it always seemed like Dumbledore would happen to be at just the right (or wrong) place at the right time. Because of the night at the Graveyard, and the resulting smear campaign the ministry had launched against him, he’d taken a real, hard look at his years in the wizarding world and had realized something had been very wrong. But he’d hadn’t really known what. Well, other than the minister’s (and most of their society’s) incompetence, of course. Yet it wasn’t until Black Ghost had abducted him, and he’d finally met people who were even a little bit like him, that he finally had the final pieces to the puzzle.

It made him feel sick at how easily the magical world had played him.

Before attending Hogwarts, he’d prided himself at being able to see through deception. It was how he’d survived at the Dursleys for so long. By all rights he should have died at their hands long ago, but he had been cunning enough to figure out how to survive. But the thoughts of magic, and of meeting people like him had blinded his usually perceptive mind. And it stung.

Dumbledore, who he’d admired, had been trying to preen him into a weapon. One that would charge into battle without a single thought for his own safety, for the sake of the old headmaster’s “Greater Good”. The same old headmaster who’d gone to absurd lengths to ensure he went to Hogwarts, and tried to appear as a grandfather figure to Harry.

And the Weasleys, the more he looked at it, the more he realized that only the five eldest brothers had honestly cared about him. And maybe Mr. Weasley. But the thought that the person he’d viewed as his first, real friend had, if fact, been a spy of some form… That hurt more than Harry had ever thought something could. It was easily worse than when he’d thought Ron had abandoned him in fourth year.

At least, it seemed, Hermione had been a real friend.

A light tap on his shoulder brought Harry out of his depressing musings. A small pulse revealed the person as 003. Now that he had an idea of what she looked like, he had to admit she was pretty, though not really his type. She seemed just a little too dainty and delicate for his taste.

“The doctor says we should be arriving at our destination soon.” Harry nodded, standing in a fluid motion. A few pulses and he had reached the chair 008 was sitting in with relative ease.

“There it is, island X.” The doctor said, pointing out an island that really was shaped like an X. Harry didn’t even know islands could form into a shape like that.

“What do we do Doctor? At this height we’ll fly low enough to avoid the radar, but we’ll crash into the cliffs.” 008 said.

“Don’t panic,” the doctor said calmly. “Stay at this altitude and circle the island.” Harry kept his eyes trained on the cliff as 008 followed the old scientist’s instructions. He was the first to spot the opening in the cliff. “Go through there and land in that inner cove.” 002 let out a snort.

“The Doc wants us to do an acrobatic maneuver.”

“Then let’s do it!” said 008. Harry felt the plane tilting, quickly adjusting his weight to keep his footing behind 008, his eyes remaining on the opening. He could tell that they could make it through, whether or not the plane would be in one piece, however, was up for debate. Green eyes remained focused as the plane flew at a 90-degree angle through the opening, ignoring the yelps from their companions as they lost their footing and fell about the airship as it was jostled by the top and bottom of the plane scraping against the cliff walls.

We’re coming out too soon! Harry thought frantically as the plane began trying to return to its original position, and one of the wings was ripped off by the cliff. The airship slammed into the water, smashing rocks as it moved far too quickly through the small cove.

“Head for the cave!” Dr. Gilmore shouted, pointing forwards. 008 veered sharply to the right, sending more members of the group to the floor in ungraceful heaps. The cave ended up taking the other wing off, before the airship slammed into the end of the hidden cove, bringing the group to an abrupt halt.

“Everyone alright?” 002 called behind him.

“Define ‘Alright’.” Said 005, who was holding up 003 (who was holding 001) and Dr. Gilmore, while sitting on top of 007 (the unlucky sod). Harry had ended up sprawled across 004’s chest and lap, as the man had been standing behind him when the teen had finally lost his footing. Both were dazed by the rough landing, but unharmed.

“Well, that was harrowing. Let’s not do it again any time soon, shall we?” Harry commented. 004 made a noise of agreement. Harry was first to get to his feet, and offered a hand to help 004 up. After all, Harry was the one who’d knocked him down. 004 accepted the hand, and allowed Harry to pull him up.

“Thanks.” Harry smiled.

“No problem.”

.

~~MAGICA~CYBORG~009~~

.

006 had decided that, after as long a day as they’d had, it was time for the group to sit down and eat. Harry had no idea that the man could cook, or what it was he was making. He was just glad that someone other than him knew how. The green eyed boy listened to the surrounding conversations, but didn’t really pay attention to them. His gloomy thoughts were trying to enter his mind again, but he kept pushing them back. The amount of unfocused magic he’d used throughout the day was finally catching up to him. Maybe a nap after he ate would be a good idea. Assuming he didn’t have any more nightmares, of course.

Harry ate quietly, impressed by how good the slapped together meal was. He didn’t really know what he was eating. And he was pretty sure he didn’t want to know. But it was good and that was all that mattered to him.

“Seconds anyone?” Harry glanced back at 006. He had plenty for himself (because of the Dursleys he ate much less than most people) so he didn’t think he needed any more food. “Hmm?” 006 looked over at Harry. “Why, 009! You’re eating so little!” The man said, his tone disapproving. “Here, have some more! Don’t be shy, there’s plenty where that came from.” Harry took one look at the man’s jovial expression with his pulse, and instantly caved in to the almost command.

“Th-thanks, 006.”

“This is really good.” Said 003. Harry could hear the smile in her tone. “What kind of meat is it?” Harry felt his heart sink. The one thing he was sure he didn’t want to know.

“The stew’s topnotch!” 007 said cheerfully. Harry made another pulse, catching the way 006 puffed up in pride.

“I did a Cambodian dish with Chinese barbecue sauce. I used a whole lot of them.” The green-eyed boy cursed his curiosity as he found himself looking up as well, and spotted the bats covering the ceiling. He swallowed the bite he’d taken, wishing he hadn’t looked. “You’ll never guess what I used for your stew, 007.” 007 hunched in on himself.

“It’s okay, you don’t need to tell me.” 006 continued.

“It’s actually a traditional Cantonese dish. Snake stew.”  Harry sighed.

“And that, 007, 003, is why you never ask what a chef used to make your food when you’re not in a proper kitchen or familiar with the dish. Not only will you chance learning something you didn’t want to know, you’ll risk killing the appetite of everyone eating with you.” He took another bite of his food. Even if he wasn’t really hungry anymore, it wasn’t polite to turn away good food (that was why he always tried to finish his plate at the Weasleys. Though he felt bad when his stomach couldn’t handle all the good food he was given). Besides, he’d eaten haggis before, barbecue bat and snake stew weren’t that bad by comparison.

He looked back to where the rest of the cyborgs were quietly talking with Dr. Gilmore.

“What about the other scientists? How do we know we can trust them?” asked 008.

“They told me of the existence of this cave.” Dr. Gilmore said. “They all feel the same way I do. We finally realized we’d been deceived by Black Ghost right from the start.”

“So their plan is for us infiltrate back in, destroy the lab, and escape?” Harry frowned as the doctor nodded. Perhaps his years at Hogwarts really had made him paranoid, because such a vague plan was setting off more warning bells than he could count.

“Why do we have to use a ship to escape? If we need to leave fast, that’s not a smart way to go.”

“Not usually, but I think you’ll find out this particular vessel is no ordinary ship. Just wait until you see it.” An odd noise caught his attention, making him turn back to see 007 trying to feed 001. He raised an eyebrow at how rough his fellow Brit was being with the baby cyborg. He shook his head, standing up.

Smoothly, he scooped 001 out of 007’s arms, giving the man a deadpan expression.

“I take it you’ve never handled a baby before, 007?” he asked blandly. The man’s head changed color, signaling that he was blushing.

“Well, no. Not really.” He admitted. Harry sighed.

“Then I’ll do it.” Harry said, neatly taking the bottle from 007’s hand and sitting down with the small cyborg in his arms. Harry, surprising though it was, did know how to handle a baby as small as 001. A young mother at the Quidditch World Cup had found the Boy-Who-Lived’s fascination with small children to be adorable and taught him how to hold and feed a baby. Letting him feed her baby, and showing him the proper way to do it. A few, slightly more rapid pulses allowed Harry to clearly “see” 001 and get the bottle in his mouth.

Unlike with 007, 001 was much more complacent with Harry feeding him. The baby probably still remembered Harry’s spanking threat.

“Hmm, you’re pretty good at that 009. You wouldn’t happen to have any little brothers or sisters, would you?” asked 006. Harry glanced at him.

“Nope. Only child. But I do have a cousin, but he’s older than me. We’ve never really gotten along…” Harry casually stated. The lack of a relationship with his relatives didn’t really bother him anymore. He didn’t really think of them as his family, to be honest, not anymore at least. “I’ve helped out neighbors with small children though.” A half-truth, there were in fact a few people in Little Whinging who’d realized that Harry wasn’t as bad as his relatives made him out to be, and let him help out every once in a while.

He listened to 007 and 006 exchange banter in the background. He frowned slightly, looking around.

“Something wrong 009?” asked 003.

“I just noticed, we don’t have a burp cloth.” Her blur shifted, signaling that she, too, was looking around.

“Oh dear, you’re right. Here, I’ll take 001 while you see if there’s something we can use as a substitute on the ship.” Harry nodded, carefully handing off the small cyborg.

“I’ll be right…” Harry was cut off by 003’s startled gasp.

“Above us! There are bombers coming!” Harry sucked in a sharp breath. They felt the explosions as they shook the cave. The teen could feel his stomach churning from the amount of shaking.

“We need to head for the tunnels! There’s no way the cave’ll survive that kind of barrage!” Harry shouted over the racket. The ground shook and part of the ceiling gave way over their heads. Harry swore loudly and activated his acceleration mode and scooped 003 and 001 into his arms and dashed to a safe place away from the falling rocks. If it weren’t for his acceleration timing out, he would have gone back for the others as well.

“009,” 003 whispered. “You saved both of us. Thank you so much.” He looked back at the boulders.

“009!” Harry looked up at 002, who had Dr. Gilmore in his arms. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. But what about the others?”

“They’ll be alright. You’ll see.” Dr. Gilmore assured him, and the doctor was quickly proven right if the shaking stones were any indication. 005 burst through the rock, his formidable strength making it easy for him to unearth the rest of the group. Harry watched the show of skill and strength, as well as the durability of his fellow cyborgs, as they all rose from the rubble, dazed but unharmed (except 007, but that was more his bad luck of being over 006 than due to the rocks).

“I’m glad everyone’s alright.” Dr. Gilmore said.

“Now what should we do?” 003 asked the doctor. “The exit’s cut off.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll find another way out of this cave.” Beeping sounded through the cave startling the group. Harry’s magic reacted by seeking out the source.

Pulse.

The doctor was twisting where he stood, his attention on his pocket. Making full use of his pulses, Harry watched the doctor pull a cellphone from his pocket and flipped it open. A relieved smile appeared on his lips.

“It’s them. My fellow scientists are calling.” The group followed the instructions given to them by the people on the other end of Dr. Gilmore’s phone. Well, it seemed they’d be starting their plan early. He hoped that the scientists really had managed to smuggle the cyborg’s pilfered belongings onto the ship. He really wanted his wand back.

They split into two groups. One infiltration, the other distraction. The infiltration team was made up of Harry, Dr. Gilmore, 006, 003 and 001. They didn’t need to be powerful, they just needed to be able to get in easily with as few obstacles as possible. The distraction team was made up of 002, 004, 005, 007, and 008 who were all heavy combat focused.

Harry and the doctor peered around the corner at the guards.

“Pretty tight security. I wonder why my colleagues didn’t tell me about this.” Dr. Gilmore muttered. Harry’s eye narrowed. This didn’t feel right.

“It’s a good thing we split up into two units.” 006 commented.

“If the plan goes well,” 003 whispered, “They’ll be drawing the enemy’s attention about now.” The ground shook under their feet and Harry could see a cloud of smoke rising in the distance.

“*Attention, all personnel! Emergency at the #3 armory! Mobilize immediately! *” Harry smirked.

“That’s our cue.” He whispered and he shot forward, tearing through the handful of remaining robots. He couldn’t help noticing that that with each fight he got involved in, it kept getting easier to fight. And the feeling of wrongness with his body that he’d had since he first awoke in the labs faded as he continued to use his new abilities and his magic together. He couldn’t help wondering why. Was his magic somehow adapting to his now part-machine body? Or was it the other way around? A small part of him wished Hermione was there. She’d probably be able to figure it out, no problem.

No, Harry, now is not the time to get distracted. Just focus on what you’re doing now. Harry thought to himself, lightly shaking his head.

“Hurry up!” 003 called from the elevator, where she and the rest of the group stood waiting for him too finish. He smashed a final robot then jogged inside just before the door closed.

Harry led the small group, furthering his skills with his magic-based pulses as he went. He rather liked this new trick. He’d have to keep practicing it even after he got new glasses. They carefully slipped down the halls and finally found the launch bay that held the ship they were going to steal. Harry couldn’t hold in the awed, “wow” that escaped him when he finally caught sight of the ship.

“Is this the ship?” asked 006. “It looks more like a plane.”

“It’s a prototype and if all goes well, it will be named the Black Phantom.” The doctor stated. “The Black Ghost planned to use it to dominate everything: The land, the sky, and the sea.” The clink of an opening door sounded behind them. Harry seized his weapon and whirled around to face the possible threat, but froze at what he saw. A brown haired man in lab coat was leaning heavily against the door, red stains seeping across his clothing. The wizard could smell the faint tint of copper in the air. The same copper he had smelled many times before. The scent of blood.

Watching the Doctor rush forward, Harry’s grim logic spoke up. Telling him that if he could smell the blood from this distance, then it was too late for that man. The man (Dr. Ryan, according to Dr. Gilmore’s shout) spoke in hoarse whisper.

“G-Gilmore… E-everyone’s been killed.” The man slumped weakly, before collapsing. Harry couldn’t see him breathing. Spot lights were thrown on, blinding the group. Harry cursed. It was a trap; they were completely surrounded by robots. All of which looked much stronger than the ones the cyborgs had seen previously. Hard, jade green eyes searched the room for an escape route. Laughter echoed through the room.

On the platform above, a man in a commander-like uniform stood over them, a cruel smile on his lips. In all honesty, the man had the classic “evil villain” look with his slicked back hair, crisp cut mustache, and angular facial structure.

“Doctor Gilmore, you conspired with the Devil, so to speak, and a truly great invention was born.” The man said, his mightier-than-thou tone grating on Harry’s nerves. “Knowing that, why did you act so foolishly and betray us? Could it be that you lost your nerve?”

“When we realized what you were up to, we knew we’d been deceived and wanted nothing more to do with you!” The Doctor shouted.

“Don’t be ridiculous. You pretended to be deceived for the sake of your research. That way you could live with a clear conscience.”

“Not true!” He breathed, taking a half step back. Harry’s eye narrowed, anger was coiling in his gut. The man above grinned cruelly.

“I’m sending you and your associates to another world!” He threw his arm forward. “Now wipe them out!” Harry hit the switch in his teeth, and the world slowed. He couldn’t take his time with these robots. He needed to either destroy or disable them as quickly and efficiently as possible.

“009!” Harry jolted, turning back to the others. Green eyes widened. The rest of the group was being attacked. Harry surged towards them, quickly smashing the robots towering over 003 and 001, and destroying the one hold 006 up by his foot. He was about to pick the doctor up and get him out of harm’s way when 001 shouted at him.

“Don’t do it!” Harry quickly cut his speed, but was still moving fast enough to scoop the elderly man into his grasp and escape the attack. “Put him down. He’s an ordinary human, he can’t handle you accelerated speed.”

“Oh, I see.” Harry murmured. The heavy, metal thud of an approaching robot had the teen quickly pulling out his weapon and firing at its head. As the battle continued, the wizard grew more and more frustrated. These robots were starting to remind him of the hydra myths. With every robot they destroyed, is seemed like two more took its place.

“We’re not getting anywhere here! Please tell me someone has an idea!” He shouted.

“006, melt the door. Open a hole!”

“A hole?! But the water!” The Chinese man shouted. “We could drown!”

“Don’t worry, you won’t. 009!” The youngest cyborg didn’t need to finish. Harry grabbed the portly man and, using his speed, set him directly in front of the bay doors.

“We’re counting on you!” Harry said quickly, before throwing himself back into the fray. It was time for more experimenting.

At its core, magic was just controlling one’s inner energy with their force of will. If you had a weak will, you didn’t have much control and couldn’t use a lot of magic, no matter how big or small your magical core was. A strong will had much better control, and could use much more advanced magic and complicated spells. Incantations and wand movements just made it easier for people to use, and had very little effect on the core. Accidental magic was an uncontrolled version of early magic as it was fueled by the will during times of stress, but the person never really knew how to use it. Wands acted as a medium for learning and focusing a person’s magic and could be substituted for anything, so long as the person could channel their magic through it. They made it easier for people to use the full extent of their power without losing any extra energy.

Right now, Harry didn’t have a medium to focus his power with, but had plenty of will to control the raw magic. Not to mention that Black Ghost was providing plenty of stress to motivate him. He couldn’t think of any spells to cause as much damage as he wanted, so he’d just have to improvise.

Harry focused on his magic. On the way it surged and swirled under his skin. He pictured a whirling ball of energy forming over his hand, small enough to not be cumbersome but strong enough to destroy one of the robots. The ball formed, and Harry hurled it into the mass of enemies before him. His spell worked as, upon making contact, it obliterated the robot, sending pieces of it into the air. Many of which collided with other robots and made them explode. Harry smiled slightly, and continued making up new spells on the spot, using them one after another on the robots. He had a feeling the doctor was watching him closely, trying to figure out just what Harry was doing, and how he was doing it. Not that the man would be having a lot of success. But that would have to wait until later. He heard 006 yelp, and the sound of rushing water filled the room.

A sudden tidal wave of water surged from the opening 006 had made, knocking Harry and the few remaining Robots off their feet. He was knocked through the door to the inner base, which shut in an attempt to keep it from flooding. He wrenched himself to his feet and strained to open the door. He kicked it in frustration.

“Damn! I’ll have to find another way back to the launch bay.” He said, glaring at the offending door. “I’ll just have to find the route used by that guy from earlier.” He turned on his acceleration mode again, hoping to save time.

This was quickly proved to be a very good idea, as the building seemed to be designed like a maze. Though it was nowhere near as bad as the Hogwarts grounds, he was sure he’s gone in a complete loop more than once. Though he didn’t find the route he was after, he did find the man in question, kneeling before a strange person wearing a cape and a skull mask. In terms of scariness and intimidation, the man didn’t hold a candle to Voldemort but his stance proved that he was probably someone of importance.

“Shoot, am I interrupting something? Oh well.” Harry asked his tone harsh and sarcastic. He pulled out his pistol, taking aim at the masked man. “I take it you’re the man in charge?” The base shook, startling the teen, but he kept his weapon trained on the masked man. Mustache spoke.

“Sorry, you’re too late. I’m blowing this base to pieces and you and your associates are going with it.”

“Good, Commander Scarl. You’ve set the destruct phase. Your final job is complete.” The man, Scarl, seemed nervous. Instincts shouting, Harry leapt back, only just avoiding the electrical charge that went off under Scarl’s feet. He watched with wide eyes as the charred body fell to the ground. “Well, now, cyborg 009, I’ve been admiring your accomplishments and your abilities. Truly, your natural powers are a sight to behold. You’ve become quite the destructive little weapon.” The anger that had been pooling in his gut changed from a small fire to a phoenix’s inferno. Harry’s magic was now visibly swirling around him from his barely restrained anger. An intimidating sight for most, though the masked man seemed unaffected.

“You disgusting piece of dung, do you really have so little respect for life that you feel no remorse for taking another’s life?” he snarled. Magic was a force of nature. A force of life! He’d learned to love that about it. Regardless of how wizards had forgotten the fact that their powers were a gift of nature, he had come to treasure it. “Are you truly fool enough to believe that this is a disposable world?!” The man chuckled.

“Isn’t it? People have always taken what they needed and thrown away what was useless to them. But it doesn’t matter. Our time is up, 009, farewell.” Harry’s magic exploded from his body, demolishing the room and surging out to attack the masked man. But the strike merely went through him. An image, like an illusion, which vanished after he attacked. The wizard’s legs nearly gave out under him, as the impact of his magic usage finally took hold.

“T-too much magic.” He said, his voice shaky and out of breath sounding. “I-I need to get back to the others. Before the base explodes.” He forced his now exhausted body into motion, racing shakily back to the launch bay.

By some miracle, Harry found his way back, and managed to destroy the final robot enemy attacking his team and their new ship.

“Hey, sorry I’m late. This place is a ruddy maze if you don’t know your way.” He said tiredly, doing his best to hide how shaky and weak he felt. “We need to go. Like, now. I ran into the guy from earlier, he’d started the self-destruct sequence for the base.” He heard the gasps and curses from the others.

“Hurry up then! We won’t have much time!” said Dr. Gilmore, his tone frantic. 004 seemed to notice that something was wrong with Harry and started leading him in. He paused long enough to glance back at 002.

“Looks like 009 showed you up.” He commented, and pulled the small teen inside. The teen leaned heavily on the older cyborg, fighting to stay awake. Harry was quickly plopped into a seat in the back, with the German man standing beside him.

“Prepare for takeoff!” 008 said. 004 draped and arm over Harry’s shoulders holding the teen in place. The ship started moving, busting its way through the partially melted doors and racing down the underwater tunnels.

“Almost out!” 006 cheered only to be cut short by part of the tunnel ahead collapsing. Though still exhausted, Harry grasped 004’s other arm as it came over his chest, trying to steady him in case of impact.

Whose voice was that? It wasn’t one he was familiar with. The strange feeling strengthened. Merlin, he felt like his mind had been stuffed with cotton.

“You must wake up!”

The feeling began pushing against his mind, trying to bring him into awareness. Telling him, alongside the strange voice, that he needed to get up. The feeling was familiar, but he couldn’t place it. What was the last thing he remembered? Wait, the Dementors! Dudley! The strange men who caught him using magic!

“Wake up!”

The feeling (instincts, magic!) slammed against his mind, forcing him awake in a manner that the strange voice could never achieve. Energy (his magic) surged through and from him in a near frantic burst, as finally the sheer wrongness (of his body, his clothes, the feel of the place around him) swamped his mind. The sound of a machine short-circuiting under his head launched him to his feet. Machines couldn’t work near magic, he knew that. But he never did know what happened when a machine was unexpectedly exposed to raw magic. It could explode for all he knew. But why was he laying on a machine?

Green eyes flicked about, pausing to peer blurrily at the brightly lit (metal?) room he was in. A hand went to his face, where were his glasses? He needed them! Though things were clearer than he was used to. And his wand! Where was it?

“Where am I? What is this place?” He could hear the distant sound of some form of alarm.

“Come.” Harry jolted, spinning in place. That voice again. Where was it coming from? “There’s not much time.”

“Who-Who are you?” He asked, hoping the person would respond.

“You must get out of there!” Harry was jolted from his search for the voice by the sudden blare of what sounded like an emergency alarm, the slam of steel on steel, and a hiss that reminded him of the time the propane stove sprung a leak. Gas!

“Quickly! You have to jump!” Green eyes shot upwards, spotting the closing windows (?) far above his head.

“I can’t jump that high!” He squawked. While he was a great seeker, he just didn’t have the athletics for something like that!

“You must! There’s no time!” the voice insisted. Harry made a small growl in the back of his throat.

“Whoever you are, I hope you know what you’re talking about!” He shouted. His legs flexed, and he made an almighty leap, arms held up to protect his head. He felt the glass break as his body moved through it, flipping mid-air and only just landing on his feet thanks to his Quidditch-honed reflexes. He heard a male voice shout for guards to appear. He looked down at his blurry hand in confusion.

“What’s going on? Why is my body so light? I could’ve never made a jump like that before…” He heard a door open behind him. He turned to see three (four?) shapes behind him.

“Don’t move!” Shouted a monotone metallic voice. Were those things robots?! But they were only science fiction! Harry shouted the only thing he could think of that seemed to fit the situation.

“Bloody Hell!” He jolted back, whipping around and taking off at a run. He did not want to find out what those things could do. Unfortunately, he didn’t quite react fast enough. A shout of pain ripped from his throat as what sounded like a machine gun went off and a wave of pain shot up his back. Yet there was no blood that he could feel. Rubber bullets, maybe? He stumbled and fell.

“Target has ceased all movement.” Stated the same metallic voice from before.

Harry grunted, slowly pushing himself up. He braced himself against the wall as he climbed to his feet, he could feel the dents in the wall from where the bullets that had missed him had hit. Okay, so they weren’t rubber. How was he unharmed then?

One of the robots slammed him against the wall, part of it crushing under the force. The robot holding him leaned in close.

“Go back to your room.” It stated blankly. Harry had a sickening flash of when he was younger, and Vernon had held him in a similar position. Instincts and magic roared as one, and Harry ripped apart the hand holding him in place in a fit of panic. He darted past the other hand reaching for him, using his small stature to his advantage to avoid the others as well. Another burst of magic surged from his core, shutting down the robot nearest him and momentarily freezing the others. He desperately wished he had his wand, but ended up punching the next robot that attacked him. Somehow, his normally feeble physical strength punched clean through the robot. It exploded, pieces of it shooting out and destroying the other two robots. Breathing heavy, Harry looked down at his hands again.

“What is this? How can I do this?” He whispered, his voice shaking.

“Don’t be afraid, these are your powers,” said the voice from earlier.

“Powers? What powers? What is going on?!”

“You will soon find out.” Harry gripped his head, stress and fear finally registering.

“Who are you? Where are you talking to me from?”

“I am 001.” the voice, 001 introduced. “I’m talking to you through a telepathic ability. I’m talking directly into your mind.”

“001? Telepathy? Into my mind?” Harry asked, forcing himself to calm down. Now was not the time to panic. Panicking was a bad idea, especially when it came to magic. And he could feel how out of balance his magical core was at the moment. And he still needed to figure out where his wand was. He was sure his (sort of) accidental magic would have alerted the ministry by now. Metal clanking drew him back into the present. “Bloody stars, there’s more of them? I need to get out of here.”

“Go through the entrance in front of you.” Harry straightened up, looking to where the robots had first come in from. His eyes narrowed and he nodded, running out the door. He shot around a corner, stopping as a group new of robots appeared in front of him. He took a half-step back. “There’s an air vent above you.”

Harry looked up, spotting the place 001 was referring to with a touch of difficulty due to his current eye troubles. Smoothly, he leapt up, bursting through the vent in the same manner as the glass ceiling of the room he’d awoken in. Only this time he did so without completely destroying it. He took off down the air duct, listening as the robots filled the path behind him with bullets. The wizard spotted a darker spot on the right side of the duct ahead of him. He dove down it feet first. Memories of the slide into the Chamber of secrets rose into his mind. He quickly shoved them aside. If 001 could talk to him through his mind, then what stopped the stranger from seeing the memories that surfaced in it?

Instincts blaring, Harry snapped out his hand and caught ahold of a pipe at the end of the shaft, dislodging it from the rest of the piping. Steam shot out of the pipe and the teen could feel the heat under his palms. He stared down at the pipe filled abyss beneath him. An orange-red glow shone far below, but was rising at an alarming pace. That definitely wasn’t good. Harry sucked in a breath between his teeth and could feel his magic reacting to the perceived danger, wrapping itself around his body like a cocoon to protect him from the coming column of fire. The column sent him soaring into the air in helpless freefall. He bounced off the ground. Hard. He let out a groan of pain. At least his magic had made it so that he was left singed instead of being charbroiled.

Standing as he dusted himself off, his attention was caught by the strange and unfamiliar surroundings. The teen quickly realized he had no idea where he was.

“What is this place? Just where the bloody hell have I been taken?” He looked around, his seeker level eyes quickly noticing a swarm of tanks approaching in the distance. “T-tanks? Oh, this day just keeps getting worse!”

“*Target detected! *” a static filled voice shouted in his mind making the British boy flinch and grip his head.

“Again with the voices in my head.” He groaned, trying to fight off the coming migraine. “Is it you again?”

“No, the radio transmitter inside you isn’t stable yet,” said 001. “So you’re picking up the transmission from those tanks.”

“I-inside me?”

“*Target acquired, capture it! *”

“They’re talking about you. You’re very popular.” Harry almost snarled at him.

“What are you talking about?! They’re going to attack me!” One of the tanks fired, the shot hitting far too close for Harry’s comfort and sending him into the air with a shout. He just barely managed to land on his feet, skidding backwards. “Bloody hell, why do they keep throwing me around like that?”

He hurriedly tried to figure out what to do. He wasn’t a violent person, no matter what the wizarding world had tried to insinuate about him, but that didn’t mean he didn’t know how to fight. With Dudley for a cousin, it pretty much came with the territory. A machine gun went off from one of the tanks, and from there the fight was a flurry of bullets, crushing metal, and explosions. The only things on the young wizard’s mind were to fight and to survive. It was only when he spotted people scrambling out of one of the tanks that he paused.

“There were people inside?” he asked, a touch of surprise in his tone. He winced as a bullet hit the side of his head. He turned to the top of the tank, where shaky soldier had him at gun point.

“Mo-monster!” Harry frowned at him, not even noticing that the man wasn’t speaking English.

“Oh, bugger off! I didn’t know there were people in there!” He snapped, making the soldier jump in fright. He was far too used to being under pressure for the gun to really bother him. Besides he was, apparently, bullet proof. “With all the robots I thought these would be automatic too…” The man gasped, then darted out of the tank, which suddenly had two holes in it before exploding. Harry swore colorfully as he was blasted off, rolling arse over tea-kettle across the ground. Green eyes flicked upwards.

Standing on the stone ridge above were more soldiers, holding some form of long range weapons (rocket launchers?).

“Bloody Merlin, they’re shooting at their own men! I thought only…” he shoved those thoughts aside, not wanting 001 to catch a glimpse of them. Magic was kept a secret for a reason. Nervously, he stepped back. He knew he seemed bullet proof right now, but he wasn’t sure how he’d hold up against a rocket explosion. Especially if it actually hit him. He stepped back, and felt rocks crumbling beneath his feet. Eyes widening slightly, he looked behind him. Bugger, they’d backed him against a cliff. Were they near an ocean?

His mind pulled up an image of the black lake. The water looked about as deep as the lake by the school cliffs. His jaw set. He’d have to take the chance. He spun in place and took the dive. If he died, then, well, he wouldn’t think about it. He squeezed his eyes shut waiting for when he’d hit the water. The world was muffled as he was submerged in the sea. Practice from flying allowed him to quickly figure out which way was up and where the surface was. His head broke the through the surface with a gasp. He looked around. He needed to figure out where to go from there. Further thoughts were, unfortunately, banished when he felt a set of jaws slam shut on his waist, yanking him under.

C-can’t breathe! He thought frantically. He struggled in the jaws, trying to get free without losing his breath, but was startled into gasping when the jaws tightened around him. Strangely, though he could feel the water entering his body, he didn’t feel like he was drowning. Wait a minute, I CAN breathe. What the heck is going on? One eye opened to look at his strange captor. He knew that, for some reason, he was drastically far sighted at the moment (as opposed to being nearly blind) but he was sure he’d at least be able to make out what was attacking him. Another gasp escaped him.

I’m being attacked by a shark?! How am I not dead yet?! To Harry’s luck, he remembered a television show his cousin had been watching. The announcers had said shark eyes were extremely sensitive, and hitting them could get them to release a person even if they were in a frenzy. He reeled a fist back and slammed it into the shark’s eye. He felt something break beneath his fist, and something like metal.

Another bloody robot?! How many of them ARE there? Harry thought furiously. He wrenched himself free and tried swimming away. He had to figure out how to escape! A missile from the sharkbot hit him sending spiraling off course in his bid for the surface. He gritted his teeth, mentally prepping for an underwater battle, only for something or someone else to defeat his attacker. A flash of light entered his vision, then the sharkbot was destroyed in an underwater explosion. Harry squinted through the oil left in the water.

A… A person? He wondered. He tried to see them more clearly, but lost sight of them. He shook his head and searched for the coast line. Which way do I go?

“To your left, the beach is that way.” Harry let out a relieved sighed, which showed as a stream of bubbles escaping his mouth. That was much better than trying to guess which way to go. He swooped to his left. He really hoped this 001 person wasn’t just stringing him along. After being pushed into a rock by the tide (which, to Harry’s usual luck and dismay, was coming in), Harry hauled himself onto the shore with a sigh.

“What’s going on? What is this?” He asked no one in particular. “Why do I have these powers all of a sudden?”

“If I explained everything, you would only be more confused. If you do what I tell you, you’ll find your answer at the end.”

“Fine. But you better have some good answers when I find you.”

“Understood, climb the cliff in front of you.” Harry looked up at the mass of brown ahead.

“Wonderful,” he grumbled, before sighing. “Better get climbing then. Who knows when those people will show up again.”

As it turned out, they showed up about halfway through his climb. In a pair of planes with a set of machine guns attached. Harry swore again as the rock under his fingers crumble and he fell back to the sandy beach. He lay there for a few moments, panting.

“Why? Why is it that, even when I follow your instructions to the letter, I just keep bumping into the enemy.”

“Sorry, but I picked this route specifically so you’d have to face the enemy. I want to see more of your powers.” Harry stiffened at that. The teen snarled

“Stop fooling around! Come out and show yourself!” He jolted at the sound of the approaching planes. He’d nearly forgotten them. They open fired on him, forcing him to dodge to the best of his ability. “When I finally meet you, I’ll punch your lights out!”

“I don’t think you’ll want to hit me. Watch out! In front of you!” Harry looked up to see the two planes banking in mid-air. Clearly intent on getting him. “Press the switch on your back tooth.”

“Switch?” Harry flicked his tongue back to feel what 001 was talking about. The planes started firing at him again.

“Press it!” Gritting his teeth together, he pressed on the switch in his back right molar. And the world slowed to a crawl. Harry’s eyes widened in shock.

“What-what is this?” He looked up at the planes. It was like the world had been set into slow motion.

“Your Acceleration Mode. Right now the area around you cannot keep up with your speed.” Thoroughly shaken, Harry asked,

“Great, now how do I turn it off?!” As soon as he finished saying that, the world returned to normal speed and he was slammed into by one of the plane wings. He instinctively clung to it as the plane took off with its’ new, unwilling passenger. He adjusted his weight and started climbing towards the cockpit. He hoped he could talk the piolet into landing before he got them BOTH killed. This plan was quickly discarded when he found that the plane didn’t have a piolet, meaning it had some kind of auto-piolet feature. Or it was one of those drone planes he’d heard about on the news.

“Oh bugger. What do the red lights mean?” He muttered. He got his answer when he looked ahead. The two planes were going to collide. “Bloody stars! I need to stop answering my own questions!” He jumped off the plane, not wanting to be caught in the coming explosion. He twisted mid-air hoping that his body and his magic would be strong enough to survive the landing. Before he could formulate a method to use his magic to help him, an unfamiliar arm grabbed ahold of him, wrenching him sideways. Harry quickly realized that, somehow, the person who saved him was flying. Under their own power. He twisted slightly, trying to see who’d caught him.

“Careful there, you’ll fall if you make me lose my grip.” The blurred person said to him. The only things Harry could really pick out about them was that they were male, had red hair, and an oddly beak-like nose. While the man was speaking English, Harry was pretty sure it wasn’t the Queen’s English. “But if you want to fall, just say so. Any place in particular?” Harry shook his head with a muttered “no thanks”.

“Something tells me you’re not 001, are you?” His voice was too deep to belong to the person who’d been talking into the young wizard’s head. Harry had the feeling the red head smiled at him.

“Got that right, I’m 002.”

“002?”

“Don’t call me by my number.” Harry blinked at him, opening his mouth to ask what the red-head wanted the teen to call him then, but was cut off before he could ask. “Let’s go then.” Harry bit back a yelp as they sped up. He turned his head to look in the direction 002 (since he didn’t know what else to call him) was flying. There was an island far below them that the flying person seemed to be heading for. He couldn’t hold back the small smile that wormed its way onto his face. He always did love flying, though he would have preferred something a little more under his control. But it was still nice.

“I take it we’re headed for the island?”

“Yup, the others are expecting us.”

“Others?”

002 swooped low, dropping Harry before landing himself. Not expecting it, the brit stumbled, bumping into someone much taller than him. The tall person was kind enough to catch him before he fell on his face, and neatly set him back on his feet. Harry (who was just barely average height) couldn’t help feeling dwarfed by the giant dark skinned man. But Harry was pretty sure the man wasn’t as tall as Hagrid. Harry swept his gaze over the group around him, a small part of him was thankful that they all seemed to have vastly different appearances, even to his blurry eyes.

“Who are you people?”

“Looks like a friend.” Said one of the people standing on the ridge. He had a mostly skin colored head, leading Harry to believe he was bald. He also had a far more familiar accent. Definitely a London one.

“Seems like you’re right. Are we lucky or unlucky?” asked the person nearest the bald man. He was the only person white hair and a light complexion, and an accent Harry couldn’t quite place. German perhaps?

“Friend?” Harry asked, genuinely confused by the response given.

“We all have powers, like you.” Said 001’s voice. The girl (he was pretty sure she was a girl) with blonde hair, hopped down, carefully approaching him. In her arms was a small blur of blue-grey hair and what looked almost like a bib. A baby? His eyes widened.

“It couldn’t be- Are you-?”

“Yes, I’m 001.” The baby, now identified as 001, answered. “You don’t still feel like punching my lights out, do you?” Harry bent closer, an unimpressed frown on his face.

“Not really, but spanking you seems rather appealing.” He was rewarded with a small “Erk!” from the child, and muffled snickers from various members of the group. The girls’ head suddenly shot up. Harry quickly turned, wondering if she’d seen something in the distance.

“Are they coming again, 003?” Asked 002. The girl, 003 he assumed, was quiet for a moment.

“Robot military. There are many of them over the mountains.” She stated calmly. Harry let out an impressed whistle.

“Wow, you can see beyond the mountains?” Harry asked, sounding as impressed as he felt. He’d only ever dreamed of seeing that well. But she seemed unhappy about it. The grey haired man stepped forward, getting down on one knee. For some reason his knee made a strange clanking noise and suddenly there was a patch of grey and red between his red of his pants and the black of his boot.

“Guess we strike first. 003, guide me.” Harry squinted slightly, still trying to figure out what the man planned to do. He glanced at Harry. “This ain’t for showing off.”

“Ready? Wards 20 o’clock, up 37 degrees.” Harry watched the man shift, then two missiles (rockets?!) shot from his knee. Green eyes easily tracked their flight pattern over the mountain, watching the debris cloud kicked up from the collision as it rose over the mountain. 003 spoke up again.

“Behind them, there are tanks coming.”

Great. Just what I need. More tanks shooting at me. Harry thought in frustration, a frown settling on his face. Feeling out of place, Harry just listened as they spoke. Clearly they knew more about what was happening than he did.

“Are there people inside?” asked 002.

“Yes.”

“They don’t get tired, do they?” asked a short, stout looking man (with yet another accent Harry didn’t recognize). Another dark skinned man, with oddly light short hair, spoke up.

“The airport is in that direction, right?”

“Guess we’re heading on.” Said the man who, apparently, could fire missiles from his legs. The previous speaker sighed.

“There’s never an end.” Harry watched as the rest of the men in the group (not counting 001) pull a strange, silver thing from their belts. Guns of some kind? Harry looked back to where the tanks were. Once again he wished he had his wand as the rounds from the tanks soared through the air, right at their ragtag group. Stomping down on the urge to shout “pretago maxima!” at the top of his lungs, the wizard watched his companions (?) proceed to shoot down the missile-like rounds, both destroying them and detonating them early. More tank shots burst through the cloud of smoke and Harry’s right arm started lifting. Even if he got in trouble for using magic in front of muggles, he couldn’t just sit back and let them die! It just wasn’t in his nature!

He was stopped from revealing himself when 001 created a barrier of his own to protect the group. 002 took off into the air, still holding his gun. Harry watched in amazement as the redhead expertly flew through the air, using his weapon to shoot out the treads of the tanks as he flew by them with the grace and accuracy of a bird of prey. Harry couldn’t help comparing him to a red-tailed hawk. Merlin, he’d only dreamed of being able to fly as freely and gracefully as that, and now he’d met someone who actually could! And he was a muggle no less! Sometimes, life just wasn’t fair.

The silver haired man fired off another rocket from one of his legs, destroying more tanks by causing a rock outcropping to collapse atop of them. The large rocks easily crushed the metal beneath them. The man’s expression was controlled and calm, with a focused frown set firmly in place. It took all his self-control to not gape when the man started shooting bullets (honest to Circe bullets!) from the fingers of his right hand at the robots advancing towards him. It seemed that, unlike what Harry had first thought, he was not wearing some kind of glove, but in fact had some kind of metal prostatic.

The teen watched with wide eyes as the large man who’d stopped him from falling on his face earlier ripped the top off of a tank, with the soldiers hanging helplessly from it after attempting to keep each other from being lifted. The man then tossed them aside, far enough to daze them, but not enough to hurt them. Harry watched him stop another tank as it tried to run him over, lifted the steel vehicle over his head, then pitched it a good thirty meters. While not as flashy as the other two fighters, it was an impressive display in its own right.

“Whoa.”

“That’s 005. He has a body of steel and the strength of 1,000 people.” 001 said calmly, not needing to point out who he meant to Harry.

“Remind me to never get on his bad side.” Harry muttered. Wow, and I thought Hagrid was strong… He idly wondered if the man was half-giant like Hagrid. It would certainly explain a lot.

“Seems like it’s my turn.” Harry looked back at the pudgy man who’d spoken as he blew out a stream of fire and dove into the ground.

“006- Nicknamed the mole. He can breathe out fire as hot as 3,000 degrees and can melt anything.” Harry watched as 006’s flames made the ground under the tanks so unstable that not only did it crumble beneath them, but fire shot up out of every crack beneath the tanks. 006 popped out of the ground and laughed something the green eyed boy couldn’t hear, only for the small rock he was standing on to give out under his feet. So much for the “cool guy” pose he’d struck.

The bald man leaned out of a rock and knock out three soldiers with a metal hammer, before the rock actually molded into his body. He tapped his bellybutton and turned into a kangaroo as 001 spoke up once more. Harry knew about animagi, but he’d never heard of a person who could turn themselves into an object without a wand!

“007, by pressing the switch on his bellybutton, he can transform into anything.” Harry watched 007 as he hopped up onto the nearest tank, popped open the lid, pulled a bomb from his pouch, and dropped it inside. Harry had no idea where he’d gotten the bomb from, or how he’d put it in his pouch, and he was pretty sure he didn’t want to know. Four more robot soldiers were shot down by the dark (nearly black) skinned man. He smoothly ran into the opposing numbers, taking down enemies with an efficiency that would have made any Auroror worth his galleons proud.

“008, professional fighter. Although he’s at his best under water, where he can breathe and swim like a fish.” Harry had a flash back of the man he’d seen in the water who’d taken out the Sharkbot for him.

“So that was him I saw earlier…” he murmured. He watched 002 swoop low and ensnare a small group of soldiers with a decent sized length of rope. Before he easily lifted the group and dropped them with the other captured soldiers.

“002, with his jet engine powered boots he can fly anywhere.” 001 stated, though it wasn’t really necessary, as the older male had already (sort of) introduced himself to Harry.

Harry watched as the bound up soldiers were all dropped in the same place. Harry, while still nervous of letting the men go, was glad none of them had been killed. Even after everything he’d been through, death still didn’t sit well with him.

“That’s right, we prefer to not take people’s lives.” 001 said, his mental voice calm. Harry looked at him, a flicker of surprise on his face. “I can easily tell what’s going on in your confused mind, but I want you to come with us.” Harry’s eyes trailed up to 003’s face, or where he was pretty sure it was.

“I want you to trust us.” She said, her voice soft but firm. Harry blinked at her. He wasn’t used to people asking for his trust. Usually they would just demand it from him, along with his respect. This was… Different, but not unwelcome. 003 jolted, hurriedly looking back at the destroyed tanks. She shouted in a panicked tone, “Watch out!”

Numerous compartments on the destroyed tanks opened, releasing strange metal disks with eyes and tentacles spinning into the air. Harry took a half step back, his instincts telling him that these objects were far more dangerous than they looked. This was confirmed when they latched onto various members of the group, and 003 shouted that the disks had some form of stinger that could paralyze them. Harry, while nervous, wasn’t too surprised by that. Harry hit the switch in his mouth when he saw some of the disks heading for 003 and 001. What scummy piece of dung would attack an unarmed woman and a baby?! He wouldn’t stand for it!

He shot forward, intent on smashing as many of the devices as possible. Each disk easily crumbled under his punches and kicks as he darted around the group. When his Acceleration mode timed out, the others seemed surprised by the sudden loss of attackers. Though once they spotted his change in position compared to them, they quickly figured out who had gotten rid of them.

“Amazing,” breathed 007. He heard the grey haired one speak up.

“He’s farther along than we thought.” Harry wasn’t sure what he meant, but he hoped that was some form of compliment.

“Watch out! There’s more of them!” 003 shouted, leaping closer. Harry looked back, seeing more of the disks being sent into the sky.

“Bloody hell, why can’t things ever be easy?” He groused, as they started forming some sort of snake-worm creature that towered over the group. Harry felt his hackles rising as he looked at the things’ single, unblinking eye.

“Be careful!” called 003, though as far as Harry was concerned, the warning wasn’t really needed. The creature started firing lasers from its tentacles, forcing the young wizard to dive into a forward roll to escape. His attention was quickly caught by the shouts of pain and surprise from the other fighters. He turned to see that they’d been hoisted into the air by the robot, which seemed to be trying to crush them in its iron grip.

“Use this!” the silver haired man shouted in a strained voice, as he freed enough of his arm to throw his gun to Harry. The green eyed teen barely caught it. He bit back a curse. Somehow he knew how to use the weapon, but with how far-sighted he was at the moment, he could barely see the darn thing! He quickly checked the buttons. To his relief, each one was a different color, which let him tell them apart. He hit the red button, setting it to ray-gun mode. Now, to figure out how to take that thing out.

He fired a preliminary shot. He needed to test a theory about the thing. The creature broke apart, but its pieces flew around Harry and reformed behind him. The rest of the group (minus Harry, 003 and 001) were still trapped, and looking a tad queasy from how quickly the disks had been spinning through the air. He gritted his teeth. It seemed he was right. While he knew he was strong enough to break the segments, he was pretty sure they would just reassemble themselves with the surviving disks each time he attacked. He needed a way to kill the power for all of them without using magic…

“Before it combines, aim for the fourth sphere’s connector.” Came 001’s voice. He looked back at the other two, uncaptured people. 003 was giving him a determined stare.

“For a second the joints are released. That’s where the heart is.” Harry nodded giving her a smile.

“I understand. Thanks.” She seemed surprised by him saying that, but he didn’t pay too much attention to that. He quickly turned and fired a second shot from the ray gun which made the robot split apart again. His eyes tracked the movement of the disks, counting the segments as they assembled. Without speaking, he switched on his acceleration mode. It was time to put his seeker skills to good use. Still keeping his distance (mostly so he could see the blasted thing) he easily got into position, and fired right through the opening between the joints. The core made a fabulous explosion sending people and pieces flying in every direction. The fragments fell apart once the control unit (which must’ve been with the heart) was destroyed. There was a moment of silence, and Harry turned back to the group.

“Is everyone alright?” he asked, his voice clear and calm, his far too kind heart kicking in again. Noises of confirmation rang throughout the group (some more reluctant than others), earning a pleased smile from the black haired boy. “Good. Now then, I just have just one question to ask.” He was sure they were all staring at him, wondering what he wanted to know.

“Would somebody please explain to me what the bloody hell is going on here?!”

~~MAGICA~CYBORG~009~~

During the far too long run through the heat of the desert-like area around them to get to the “airport”, Harry finally got the answers he’d been looking for out of the group. It seemed him blowing his top at them had made them remember that he was basically coming in blind. And, after a bit of pestering and picking at various members of the group, they’d finally explained the basics of what was going on to him.

Apparently he had been made into a cyborg, a half human and half robot hybrid. His number was 009 and the rest of the group were the cyborgs made before him, numbering 1 through 8. The silver haired man, who was finally introduced to him as 004 and was essentially a walking artillery, had told him that they were all pretty much kidnapped off the streets from various places in the world. The only thing consistent about the abductions was that, for one reason or another, the group that took them made sure that they weren’t going to be missed if they disappeared. Harry would have said that he would’ve been missed, but then he remembered the “cover story” his relatives gave for why he disappeared every year. With that kind of reputation, it was pretty easy to understand why he’d been taken.

This also confirmed that none of these people knew about magic, as no one who wanted to remain hidden would’ve abducted the “Boy-Who-Lived” (even with the Daily Prophet’s smear campaign), and if the other cyborgs knew they would’ve recognized him by now. Though he wouldn’t be surprised if his captors now had an inkling that he possessed magic, even if they didn’t know that was what it was. He really hoped they hadn’t destroyed his wand, or something like that. He needed his wand!

Now he and his fellow cyborgs were trudging through a water-logged series of cave tunnels (which really reminded Harry of the trek to the Chamber of Secrets, but with more water and less stink) to steal an enemy plane for their escape. He mostly stayed near the back of the group since he really didn’t know much about what they were doing and, as such, felt it was a better idea to let them take the lead. The tunnels felt old and completely natural, which meant that they hadn’t been made by the enemy and, as such, there were no booby traps waiting for them. They probably only used it as an emergency escape route for the scientists, which was good for the rebelling cyborgs. The only thing that really bugged Harry about the trek was how much noise their splashing footsteps made. If they had robots doing patrols down there, the group would be sitting ducks. 002, who was leading them, stopped.

“We’re here.”

“Wait, brute force will only set off the alarms,” 007 murmured, stopping 005 from stepping forward. Harry watched the adult shrink himself down to some form of small animal (a mouse? So long as it wasn’t a rat, Harry honestly didn’t care). “I hope there are no cats up there!”  And with that he skittered up what seemed to be a metal ladder. There was an odd feeling coiling in his stomach. He frowned, his attention turning inward, trying to decipher the feeling. Without his sight and his magic, he had to rely on his instincts, his remaining senses, and his strange new powers for help and protection.

“Hey, 009. 009?” Harry snapped back to reality, blinking at the red clothes in front of him, before his eyes trailed up to the silver haired person wearing them. It must be 004, he was the only one with silver hair. Oh, right, duh. 009 was his latest nickname, wasn’t it? “You alright, 009?”

“Huh? O-oh, yes. Yes, I’m fine. Just got lost in thought, that’s all. Sorry ‘bout that.” Harry said, before adding in an awkward mutter, “Still need to get used to the new nickname though.” As if I need any more alternate names. He couldn’t see the older man’s expression, but he was pretty sure he believed him. Though he probably thought that Harry wasn’t giving him all the details.

“Right… 007 got the trap door open, so we need to get moving. C’mon.” Harry nodded and followed after 004. He was sure that if he hadn’t seen 004 climbing the ladder he would have ended up walking into it. In fact, he nearly did, but he was able to pass it off as him losing his footing due to the wet floor. The wizard’s discomfort only increased as the crept through the halls an encountered almost no resistance.

“Something’s not right” said 004. “There are no guards.”

“Did they run away?” asked 006.

Harry’s gut twisted uncomfortably as 003 gave them instructions on where to go next. Where were the guards? Shouldn’t there be patrols if this was an important place? There’s no way the people attacking them would just run away. With all the fighting on their way to the “airport” the enemy should have figured out where they were headed by now. This reeked of a set up.

Or maybe the Fake-Moody’s paranoia really had rubbed off on him in fourth year. Then again, it wasn’t paranoia if people really were out to get you. Constant vigilance had been his motto after all. Or had that been the real Moody’s motto? He wasn’t sure, he technically never met the real Moody.

He followed after 004, staying within arms’ reach of the older male. He would have hovered near 003, as she didn’t seem to have much in the way of combat skills (not to mention that she had her arms full carrying 001 around), but the rest of the group was already bracketing her from any potential threats. And, as the saying went, too many cooks ruined the soup. From what he’d seen earlier, 004 was perfectly capable of taking care of himself, so he would probably do a better job of holding off attackers than the others. And Harry, as much as he disliked it, needed all the protection he could get at the moment. Because of his eyesight, he couldn’t do a very good job of protecting himself if the enemy got the jump on him.

Harry still hadn’t come clean about his eye troubles, but that would have to wait until the group was no longer in danger. And maybe until he was near a place where he could get new glasses.

The wizard watched as 008 carefully opened a door and made a sign to rest of the group. He assumed that it meant the coast was clear since everyone began to file through. The twisting, anxious feeling in his gut became worse with each passing second. 002 pointed towards a seaplane docked in the water bay ahead of them.

“That’s it,” said the red-head, pleased smirk settling in place. “Looks operational. Let’s move.” They barely got five steps in before Harry’s intuition screamed at him. The small teen launched forwards, seized 002’s arm (ignoring his surprised shout), and wrenched them both back just before a heavy, steel wall slammed down where 002 had been standing moments before. A second slam alerted them to a second wall closing behind them, sealing the group in.

“You okay?” Harry asked 002. The red-head shook off his arm and concern with a clipped “I’m fine.” and stood up from where they’d landed on the floor. Harry, who’d always had heightened senses thanks to his bad eyesight, noted there was faint quiver to his voice. Obviously he’d been shaken by the incident, but was trying to play it off.

“Damn!” 002 cursed, pushing at the first wall. “They set a trap for us!” 005 reeled his fist back and punched the wall, but it did nothing to damage it. Obviously, strength wasn’t the way to go.

“Stand back 005,” said 008. He opened fired with his pistol, but the shot merely ricocheted throughout the room. Harry cursed as it zipped past his face, only centimeters from his nose. It seemed their weapons didn’t work either. 006 pushed his way in front.

“Let’s try this then,” he said.  He took a deep breath, then breathed out a column of fire at the first wall. This did nothing beyond winding the man. “Hmm, it didn’t work.”  Harry could feel his unbalanced magic responding to his faint distress. Yes, he could put up with being in a small, enclosed space, but only if he knew he had a way of getting out. He took a few, slow, deep breaths to reign in his whirling magic. He did not need to have another burst of uncontrolled magic. Any more of them and he’d probably exhaust his core.

Harry nearly jumped out of his skin as a strange voice started laughing.

“Of course it didn’t work.” Said a harsh voice. The wall lights went out, plunging the cyborgs into darkness. Near blinding, white lights were switched on above them, causing many to flinch and try to shade their eyes. Harry spent a moment blinking he spots out of his eyes before trying to focus on where the voice had come from. Standing on the transparent ceiling/floor above the cyborgs was a small group of sunglass and lab coat wearing scientists. Harry found his eyes being drawn to two scientists in specific. A particularly unpleasant scientist with messy hair and far too prominent lips spoke, his tone cold and condescending. “The limits of your abilities have been programmed into the system.”

“Damn, you guys tricked us.”

“Go back to the laboratory right away, we still need more data.” Ordered the scientist next to Big lips (as Harry mentally dubbed him). His hair was white, his nose was large, and he was a tad on the chubby side, but he didn’t bother Harry as much as the other man. Harry couldn’t help noticing that the man’s words sounded oddly forced.

“What?!” snapped 008. “We’re not robots!”

“Your rebellion should stop at once, this is not the reason we gave you powers,” said the first scientist, his lips curved in an unpleasant smile. Harry bristled at him. He did not like the way the man was looking at him.

“Gave?” 004 asked, his tone harsh. “So you’re saying we should be thankful for this?”

“Do you think we wanted to have bodies like this?!” 003 said loudly, just shy of shouting. “And getting reconstructed like this?” Harry’s stomach clenched at that. He still had trouble wrapping his mind around that. He really hoped these “Black Ghost” people had a wretched time working on him because of his magic. Big lips chuckled.

“They are wonderful powers. Powers exceeding the human strength. Science defe- “He froze as a voice cut in with a sharp “Enough”. Harry’s attention was returned to the other scientist, who was now being held at gunpoint by one of his colleagues. “You’re with the cyborgs?” The “traitor” smiled, then revealed himself as 007. Harry had forgotten he wasn’t with them, but was definitely glad the older man had decided to take a different route than them.

“I’m not just with them, I’m part of the inner circle!” 007 said cheerfully. Big nose tried to sneak up on the morphing cyborg, but was quickly brought to gun point as well. “I’d suggest you let my friends go, or you’ll be breathing through a third nostril.”

“Ah, is now soon enough?” He said nervously. Holding the man hostage, 007 was able to rejoin the group with little fuss. The ten calmly walked towards the plane, carefully ignoring the soldiers lining up along the walls.

“Don’t fire! The cyborgs know the self-destruct code of the base! If I die they’ll destroy this place. I’m the only one who knows the abort code.” He watched the others boarding the plane, and quietly followed after them. Until 003 stopped at least.

“This is your only chance to back out,” said 001 from her arms. “Once you get on that plane there’s no going back.”

“Will you come with us?” 003 asked. Harry started chuckling.

“Y’know, this is a lousy time to ask that. You’re pretty much giving me an all or nothing choice here. If I go, I’ll be a fugitive; If I stay, I’ll be a lab experiment.” He started walking forward, an almost lazy smile on his face. He dutifully ignored any look on the woman’s face. It wasn’t like he could see it anyways. “Either way, I’m in big trouble! I might as well go with the one choice that’ll keep me from being alone, right?”

Harry slipped past the others who’d stopped in the entrance of the plane to hear his response. Managing to find the cockpit after a touch of trial an error (and after trying a trick he’d once read a blind wizard had used to get around safely. Think sonar only with pulses of magic instead of radio waves. It was surprisingly effective for something that only required will and not spell work. He still bumped into the ladder the first few times he was experimenting with it, and the grey, washed-out world was something he’d need to get used to.)

Settling in a chair at the back, Harry listened as the engine of the plane shifted to a roar as the vehicle started moving. Curiosity winning out, he shifted the seat closer to the window and watched as it took to the air, land and sea falling away as they took off. He looked over to where 004 was standing.

He carefully rose to his feet, wandering over to where the man stood, holding out the gun he’d lent the teen.

“I think I should return this.” He said softly. He made a discrete pulse, mapping out the older man’s face in his mind. The man tilted his head slightly, a small smile being caught by the pulse.

“Thanks, but you can keep that.” Harry blinked, and the man raised his right hand. Wordlessly reminding him that said hand was a weapon. The green eyed boy let out a soft “oh”. Before hesitantly attaching the weapon back on his belt.

003 approached him, and he practiced the pulse once more. Mapping her face and the face of 001, who held a hand out to him. Harry paused, and carefully held out a finger for 001 to grasp.

“Glad to have you, 009.” Harry gave him a weary smile.