Chapter 5
The next morning, James woke up cuddled next to Sirius. It had gotten cold that night and apparently Sirius had found his way into James arms. James yawned and began to stroke Sirius’ hair. He thought about what today was going to look like. Hopefully they would find the Etas, so that James’ first ever mission would be successful. James looked at the small clock next to the bed. It was 7:30. Remus said that they would leave at 9. Excitement was beginning to creep into him.
James contemplated getting up to take a shower, but he felt too cozy to move. He closed his eyes and laid there, brushing Sirius, for about twenty minutes. James heard the other bed creak and watched Remus rise. He immediately headed to the bathroom to do his morning routine. James felt a bit jealous at the fact that Remus could ignore the allure of a warm bed and get up. Although, to be fair, Remus wasn’t holding Sirius at the moment. Maybe if he was he would have stayed in bed a bit longer.
James watched as Remus came out of the bathroom, fully dressed. Remus looked at him and saw that he was awake. He came to the side of his bed.
“Do you want breakfast?” Remus asked him.
James felt his stomach rumble. “Absolutely. Is it complimentary?”
Remus nodded. “We never go to a hotel that doesn’t have free breakfast.”
James quietly laughed. “I see your priorities are in order.”
Remus got up and headed out the door. At the sound of the door opening, Sirius groaned and nuzzled into James. He then rubbed his eyes and let out a yawn.
“Good morning, beautiful.” James said and Sirius grumbled.
Sirius opened one of his eyes to look at James and asked in a sleepy voice, “time?”
“Eight on the dot.” James said and laughed when Sirius groaned again.
“Too early.” Sirius said.
“I mean you don’t have to get up. Remus is out getting breakfast right now.” James replied.
“Good. I’m starving.” Sirius put his head on James’ chest.
“You haven’t even been awake for a minute, how are you already starving?” James chuckled.
Sirius ignored him and closed his eyes. They stayed there, holding each other, until the front door beeped and in came Remus. Remus was balancing three plates in his hands. He placed them on the TV stand.
“Okay, I got us all hard boiled eggs, some cereal, and you and Sirius waffles.” Remus said.
“That's good, Sirius is starving.” James remarked, pinching Sirius’ cheek.
“That’s why I got him three waffles.”
Sirius shot up. “You did? I love you.”
Remus laughed as he handed Sirius his plate, as well as a fork, a knife, and a napkin. Remus then handed the same to James before sitting down on his bed. The three ate in morning silence.
Sirius finished his plate first, despite having the most food on it. He stretched and said, “Aight, I better go get dressed.” He walked into the bathroom and by the time he was out, James had finished his own breakfast and went to get changed as well.
By 8:30, the three of them were dressed and out of the room. They knocked on Lily and Mary’s door. The door opened and the two girls stepped out.
“Alright, ready to go?” Lily asked.
“You betcha.” Sirius replied.
And so the team got in the car and drove to the power plant.
___
The group walked up to the power plant. As they entered, a thought struck James. Were they allowed to just walk in? Isn’t that some sort of threat to national security or something? James looked around, but nobody seemed to be thinking what he was thinking.
Mary was in charge of the map, and she led them to a large room with about a dozen other people. There was a great view of the plant and its different components there. James didn’t really care for that, though.
After waiting a few minutes, a man in a uniform came up. He talked them through safety procedures and explained a little about the power plants history. Oh, so they got in using a tour. Very clever. James wondered how many tours the plant must give to have one the very day they needed one.
James watched Lily and Mary pair up with each other. He heard them talking about plausible places to find the Etas. James walked up to Sirius and Remus.
“I’m just saying that you don’t have to hate on it so much, plenty of people like it.” Remus said.
“Plenty of people like pineapple on pizza but that doesn’t make it good.” Sirius retorted.
“Okay, that’s going too far. Pineapple makes the pizza sweet and ham makes it salty. It’s the perfect combination.” Remus scoffed.
“What are you guys talking about?” James cut in.
“Oh God, don’t make him start up again-” Remus started.
Sirius cut him off, “We’re talking about the fact that In-N-Out makes the worst fries.”
“Oh yeah, I don’t even get them when I go. Whenever I know that I’m going I get fries at, like, Wendy's or something beforehand.” James agreed.
“SEE! He knows what I’m talking about. I swear it tastes like they cut a raw potato in a strip and microwaved it for 15 seconds! Unacceptable for a burger joint. Fries are an important part of the experience.” Sirius added.
Remus rolled his eyes. “You know you can ask them to cook it longer.”
“I know, but then it tastes burnt. Trust me, I have tried everything to make them taste better. Cooking it longer, adding more seasoning, putting them in the sauce, even adding peppers! Nothing helps, I can’t even eat animal fries!” Sirius groaned.
James paused. “Well I can’t agree with you on that, I love animal fries.”
“I know! That’s why I always try one of yours, but it never gets better! Also I don’t like their minced onions.” Sirius cried.
“Okay, no. I’m not allowing you to talk shit on their onions. The grilled ones are the best.” Remus said.
“Oh please, raw onions all the way.” Sirius rolled his eyes.
Remus gasped. “You and your underdeveloped food palate.”
“Underdeveloped?! I just have a very particular taste, better than someone who likes Costco pizza.” Sirius smirked.
“Oh so now you got a problem with Costco?” Remus said, indignantly.
“What’s wrong with Costco?” James asked.
“It’s too greasy. I swear the whole thing drips with grease when you order a single slice from the food court.” Sirius said, like it was obvious.
“Oh, that’s fair.” James said.
“The grease is the best part.” Remus said sadly.
“Are you even looking for the Etas?” Lily butted in. James was startled. He didn’t even notice Lily and Mary creeping up to them until she spoke.
Sirius was clearly surprised as well, as it took him a minute to speak. “Of course we’re looking. That’s the whole reason why we’re here.”
“I know that, I was just wondering if you knew that given your food discourse.” Lily stated.
“We can talk and work. It’s called multitasking.” Sirius said.
“Oh yeah? Which area did we just pass?” Lily asked.
“The control room.” Sirius responded.
“Nope. Just keep your eyes out.” Lily said, and then walked away.
James felt a bit embarrassed to be caught slacking off on his first mission. But neither Sirius nor Remus seemed to care. James tried to calm his nerves and looked around. He saw nothing indicating where the Etas might be held. Hell, it might not even be there. Actually, it probably wouldn't be there. They were on a wild goose chase for what could end up being the deadliest weapon in recent history.
James walked through room after room, watching the others talk. James’ eye caught a sign that said nuclear reactor. James pointed it out to Remus. Remus hesitated. “I mean. It is an energy stealer. Maybe it could be used to keep the reactor at bay?”
Sirius piped up, “We should go inside.”
“I don’t think that it’s part of the tour.” James said.
“Then we break in.” Lily said. James jumped, once again not noticing Lily until it was too late.
“Sirius, turn us invisible and I’ll break down the door.” Mary said.
Sirius did so. Mary kicked down the door and the team looked around the reactor, but nobody found anything close to the Etas. As James checked a pipe, he heard a woman call out, “What are you doing in here? This is off limits.”
The group was silent, until Lily shouted out, “RUN!”
James and Sirius ran with each other, they went through the door then headed down to the closest marked exit before leaving. Sirius, having a pretty good memory, led James to the car. By the time they got there, both Mary and Remus had already made it. After waiting 2 minutes, Lily came over, panting.
The group got into the car and drove away.
___
Soon, the group arrived at the Museum. They bought tickets and entered.
“Alright, remember that we are just looking around. Chances are the Etas won’t be on display, so look for the areas most likely to hold it and we’ll search the storage rooms later tonight.” Remus said. Then, they all split up. Remus and Sirius went off together while Mary went to search by herself. Lily joined James.
James had absolutely no idea how they were supposed to go about finding the Etas. Wandering around a museum looking for the Etas did not strike him as the most effective method, but it’s not like he had any other ideas. Also Remus and Lily were the ones to come up with this plan, and they were usually aware of things that went right over Jame’s head. He’s sure they know what they’re doing, they usually do.
“I’m thinking we search the Egyptian section.” Lily said, leading the way.
“Why?” James asked.
Lily gave James a look that made it clear to him that his question came off as annoying or like he was questioning Lily’s intelligence. That is not how he meant it at all. It was a genuine question.
“I don’t know, isn’t that where all the cool artifacts are in the movies? We might luck out, catch a glimpse of something that alludes to where it is.” Lily shrugged.
James laughed, “Can’t argue with that logic.”
Lily smiled and James felt that he had successfully regained his footing in the social interaction. It’s crazy how he still has to calculate every word or gesture when he’s talking to Lily. They’ve known each other since middle school but James still feels like he has to perform during the conversation whenever he talks to her. He is like that with most people though, to be fair. Really the only person he can talk to without the performance is Sirius. Sirius is always the exception.
James and Lily walked around different Egyptian exhibits. Lily spent a long time looking at a sarcophagus, before James dragged her off to see the dog urns. They really didn’t spend all that much time actively searching. They sort of just enjoyed the exhibits. James figured they would do most of the intense investigating once the museum was closed.
They spent a little over 45 minutes sightseeing before Remus and Sirius came up to them. “Closing is in 20 minutes, have you found anything?”
“Yeah, a lot of dead things.” Lily stated.
“But, um, nothing like the Etas.” James added.
Remus sighed as Sirius said, “It might just not be here, we couldn’t find anything either.”
“Maybe Mary will have had better luck.” Remus hoped.
Mary found them five minutes later. “I found something,” she said.
Remus and Sirius high fived. Mary stopped them. “Nothing big, it’s just. There was some mythology on a skeleton I found. It was from a paranormal exhibition, and it was talking about how the skeleton belonged to what was believed to be the first ever vampire. I know it sounds crazy, but it mentioned that the vampire was gaining power by taking away other people’s life force. I know that it meant blood, but maybe, just maybe, someone was using the Etas and it just turned into wild legends? It kind of makes sense in the timeline that we were given. I don’t know, it was the closest thing I found.”
“I mean, it’s a stretch,” Remus said. Lily elbowed him, “But it’s the only thing we have. We’ll check the paranormal exhibit later tonight. For now, let’s get out of here.”
___
About two hours after closing, the group came back to the museum. Remus began telling the group about how they would need to stay quiet and out of sight because there would no doubt be a security guard or two. Sirius said that he could keep them hidden while Lily groaned about hating stealth missions.
While the others were talking, James looked through one of the windows. Through it, he saw a boy. He was roughly around the same age with jet black hair. He was in what looked to be a black bodysuit, and it was easy to miss him as he blended in with the shadows. But even with the darkness, James could tell that he was gorgeous.
“Um, guys. Someone’s in there.” James said. The group stopped talking.
“Yeah, it’s just the security guard. As I said, we’ll have to work around him.” Remus said.
“No, he’s definitely not a security guard.” James replied.
Sirius looked through the window. “I don’t see anyone.” He said.
When James looked again, the boy was gone.
“First mission and you’re already losing it.” Lily laughed. James punched her shoulder.
“I swear I saw him, he was wearing all black.” James cried.
“If anyone is in a museum after hours wearing all black, they’re probably up to no good. Stay vigilant, we are not to split up.” Mary stated. James felt a bit better now that someone somewhat believed what he saw.
“Aye aye, captain.” Sirius grinned and saluted. Mary rolled her eyes.
The team snuck around to the side of the museum and went up to the staff entrance. It needed a passcode, but Remus used his technokinesis to bypass it. The door unlocked and the crew stepped inside. As they were sneaking through the halls, Sirius made the group invisible.
As the team walked down the halls, James saw the boy again, walking away from him. James stopped, and looked to his team. Nobody seemed to notice that he wasn’t behind them anymore. He thought about showing them the boy, but by that time he’d be gone and nobody would believe him again. He decided to follow him, he would be back before they even noticed, he would just see what the boy was doing.
James followed the boy past a few exhibits, the latter would search around for something before shaking his head and wandering off in a different direction. After watching him for a few minutes, James decided to go up to him.
“Hey, what are you doing here?” James asked.
The boy's head swiveled, his eyes alert. James felt something from the floor grab him and completely bind him, he looked down but couldn’t see anything except for shadows. He was practically paralyzed. James got a couple flashbacks. The boy said something into his suit and waited, not taking his eyes off of James.
“What are you doing here?” The boy asked.
“I asked you first,” James replied, smug. His body was squeezed tighter.
“What. are. you. doing. Here.” The body repeated, his voice harsh.
“Oh you know, just looking around. The museum sure is pretty at night. Almost as pretty as you.” James winked. His legs were going numb from the pressure on him.
The boy blinked, once, twice. “Are you flirting with me?” He asked, disgusted.
James felt his face heat up, “By the way you said that, I’m thinking I should probably answer no.”
“Probably.” The boy didn’t laugh. Didn’t even crack a smile. That was more embarrassing than getting caught. Speaking of which, he should try getting out. James conjured a large chunk of rock and threw it into his captor’s face. The boy cursed as it met his cheek. Despite the boy’s lapse in concentration, the binding didn’t break. It didn’t even loosen.
Okay, onto plan two. James thought. He used the wind to move away from the boy, and as he left, he felt something hard hit his back. He looked behind him to see five more people walking up to them. The brown haired boy he ran into smiled, sharklike, and grabbed him.
“Where do you think you’re going?” He laughed. James gulped. He certainly couldn’t get away all by himself. So he breathed in and then let out a long scream.
“What the fuck.” The brown haired guy said, and put his hand over James’ mouth. “We haven’t even done anything yet.”
The original black haired boy was turned away, talking to a girl with platinum blonde hair. James couldn’t believe he got himself into this mess. He should have shown his team the boy instead of running off after him himself. It was only his first mission and he was already making mistakes. God, he was so dumb.
A guy with platinum blond hair and a buzzcut stepped forward. “Do we know why he’s here?” He said.
“No.” Said the black haired boy. “But look at him, he’s wearing the HUF logo, so he’s clearly here to stop us.”
“Stop you? Why? What are you doing?” James was beginning to feel like maybe he got wrapped up in something above his pay grade.
The boy holding him smacked him upside the head. “Like you don’t already know. HUF is terrified of the Lava Ray.”
“The what now?” James asked.
“Barty.” The black haired boy said.
“What?” Replied the boy with brown hair- Barty. “Oh? Did I tell him what we’re looking for? Silly me. I guess we’ll have to kill him.”
“Shut up.” Said a girl off to the side. She was black and her hair was a mess of dark curls. “He probably has a team, and they are probably looking for him. If we use him as leverage-” A plant shot out and encased the girl. She was pulled behind James. James knew who that was from.
“Leverage, huh.” Lily said. “Looks like we have our own though. Maybe a trade is in order.”
The villains paused, and then all at once they rushed Lily. James managed to turn around and look at the fighting.
The first person James saw was Mary. He cringed when he saw a boy ran up to her with a large sword. He sliced at her, but she parried it with the knives she always carries around. Mary hit towards him but the boy dodged. Suddenly, Mary dropped to the floor, even though James didn’t see her get hit. The boy was in a different spot than he had been just a second ago. It must have been his power, James thought. Mary was on the floor and rolled as the boy cut down where her arm had been. Mary said something to the boy, and he nodded once while looking dazed. She must have charmspoke him into not using his powers. While the boy was somewhat distracted, Mary hit up and knocked the boy off his feet.
While Mary and the platinum blond guy were fighting, he watched Barty strut up to Remus. James looked on in shock as the boy's arms turned long and sharp, becoming swords. The boy raised his arms and brought them down at the same time, Remus had to jump back in order to avoid getting hit. Barty waved his sword arms again, following Remus' movement. Remus shifted into a wolf and the boy laughed. “Another shifter, huh?” He said, before stabbing towards Remus. Remus, now faster due to his form, easily evaded. He bit the boy’s arm and the boy laughed even harder.
Before James could see what happened next, a girl got in his view. It was the platinum blond one the original boy had been talking to. Lily was shooting plants at her, trying to capture her. But the girl had on a backpack with four, long metal limbs attached, she looked like a spider. Everytime Lily shot out a plant, the girl avoided it using her backpack. She kept getting up close to Lily, making it harder to get her. She was saying things. James could make out a “you make plants? I love plants!” And “can I experiment on you?” He was feeling creeped out for Lily. He watched as the girl got close to the dark skinned girl with curls. The blonde took what looked to be an easily portable weed wacker and cut the girl out.
James watched the dark haired girl roll on the floor and take out a gun from a holster on her waist. She aimed at Lily, but before she could shoot, the area around her turned dark. James watched as Sirius entered the darkness, holding a gun. James knew that Sirius could see in the dark and thought that the fight was pretty much over. The only problem was he heard two sets of guns go off. James watched as Sirius rolled out of the darkness, shot. James screamed, and his hand went on fire. James noticed that the binds holding him in place didn’t seem to be there anymore. Shadows. He realized. That’s what was holding him in place. James lit his entire body on fire and the binding disappeared. He fell to the floor, but instantly got up and ran towards Sirius. When he got to where he was, Sirius was getting up and clenching his shoulder. “Are you okay?” James asked.
“Yeah. I guess she saw the glow of my eyes and figured out where to shoot, smart fucker.” Sirius replied.
James prepared to hurl some rock at where he thought the girl was, when the black haired boy appeared in front of him. Literally appeared. He wasn’t there one moment and then he was the next. Sirius went still beside him. “Regulus.” He said.
James paused. Regulus? The Regulus Black? Oh shit. Oh no. James rememberedhim. He remembered how distraught Sirius was when he had to leave him, and the night that Regulus found out where his allegiance truly laid.
Regulus looked at Sirius with total disgust. “Sirius.” He said. He punched Sirius square in the face. Sirius spat out blood. Regulus brought his hand to his hip and brought out a knife. “I’m going to fucking kill you.” He lunged at Sirius. Sirius shut his eyes and braced himself. James kicked Regulus’ legs out from under him.
As Regulus tripped and fell, he grabbed James leg and pulled. James fell beside him. James threw a punch and the boy dodged, getting up as he did so. The boy tried to kick James in the face, but James blocked it with a large rock. Regulus cursed as his foot hit it. “Elemental Control, huh? Well then you must be the infamous James Potter. How does it feel to steal something that isn’t yours?”
James was confused. “I haven’t stolen anything?” He said, sending a chunk of rock flying at Regulus. Regulus disappeared into the shadows.
“You stole Sirius.” Regulus said from behind him. James tried to turn but was too late, the knife dug into his shoulder and was immediately torn out.
James sent a boulder behind him, but Regulus simply merged with the shadows and dodged it. James looked around himself, but Regulus hadn’t popped up. He felt his leg get stabbed and looked down to see an arm coming out of his own shadow. James yelled in pain. He tried to step on the hand, but it vanished. He saw Regulus out of the corner of his eye and grabbed his hand as he tried to stab James’ side. James threw him to the floor, not letting go. He picked him up and threw him again, into a wall, his hand slipping off of Regulus. Regulus disappeared as soon as he hit the wall, falling right into the shadows.
James remembered what happened to the shadow ropes and lit his body on fire. The shadows around him went farther away. Now Regulus would have to cover more ground to hit him. James heard a sound behind him and turned just in time to see Regulus jab the knife towards James’ head. James ducked and pushed himself backwards, onto Regulus. Regulus screamed as the flames jumped onto his clothes. He tried to merge in with the shadows but they avoided him, turned away by the fire. James grabbed Regulus and punched his face. While Regulus was on the floor, he kept punching, blooding up that pretty face. The fire burned off Regulus’ eyebrows, but James kept going. “He left on his own. Because he’s good. Just because you lost something doesn’t mean it was stolen.”
As James went to throw another punch, someone grabbed his shoulder. He looked behind him to see Sirius, with tears in his eyes. “Don’t kill him.” He whispered. James was shocked. He was never going to kill Regulus, he was just defending himself. But as he looked at the body beneath him he felt a little sick. James got up and stepped towards Sirius. Sirius ignored him and bent down. He put out the fire on Regulus’ clothes. “I’m sorry.” He said. But Regulus simply melted into the shadows.
James walked up to Sirius, the latter unmoving. His head was bowed and he was crying. “I didn’t mean to- I- I- I’m sorry.” James said. Sirius moved into him and cried into his shoulder.
“It’s not your fault. He- he’s a villain. Your job is to fight them. It’s just. He’s my brother, you know?”
James sighed and rubbed circles into Sirius’ back. “I know.”
James looked around him and noticed that most of the villains were gone. The only one left was Barty. Remus was on the floor. There was a blond girl with pink highlights in her hair talking to the remaining villain. James watched as Barty rolled his eyes and grabbed the girl’s hand. Then they both vanished into midair.
Lily went over to Remus and shook him. Mary stood beside her. “We need a healer.” Lily yelled.
Sirius’ head shot up. He looked around and saw Remus lying on the floor, blood dripping from his head. Sirius got up and ran to him. He cradled him in his arms. “It’s bad.” He said. James felt dizzy.
“We need to get him to the hospital.” Mary said.