Battle of New York
Chaos erupted in the streets of New York with the suddenness of the waking nightmare. The sky split open and from its tear came alien ships. Strange, metallic creatures descending onto the city. They wreaked havoc and spread terror with every blast that was unleashed. Cars flipped. Buildings shook. People screamed and ran for cover as the world they thought they knew crumbled around them.
Laurel was one of them, hidden in plain sight as she had been for the last several years. Her life, post-war, had been quiet. Deliberately so.
After defeating Voldemort, she had chosen to step away from the Wizarding World and the fame that followed her like a shadow. The scars of battle were still fresh, even after the physical ones faded, and Laurel craved the normal life she had never had. The kind of normal that a job at a small diner gave her.
No one knew her here. No one whispered her name in awe or fear. She was just Laurel. The quiet, friendly woman that served coffee and burgers.
But today, her quiet life broke. The city itself, broke.
She stood outside the diner watching the panic unfold, her fists clenched. She could feel the familiar tension rise in her chest. She could feel the pull from the elder wand that was tucked safely into her jacket pocket, a stark reminder of who she really was and what she could really do. But the last thing she needed was for the magical world to be discovered by muggles or for the magical world to discover where she was hiding.
A shriek pierced the air, pulling Laurel out of her thoughts. She saw a small child, no older than five, standing frozen in the middle of the street, his tiny frame illuminated by the glowing, monstrous form of an alien. The creature advanced on the boy, its weapon charged.
Instinct took over.
In a heartbeat, Laurel was on the move. Her wand slipped into her hand, and with a flick of her wrist, a shimmering, translucent shield formed between the child and the weapon just as it fired. The blast bounced off harmlessly, but Laurel didn’t stop. She lunged forward, scooping the child into her arms as the alien shrieked in frustration and anger.
“Shh, it’s alright,” Laurel whispered to the terrified boy, though she wasn’t sure f she was just reassuring herself at this point.
The alien soldier turned it weapon back in their direction but with another flick of her wand, a pulse of red light shot from the tip of the wand and knocked the creature back into the side of an already wrecked taxi.
There was a satisfying crunch and then the alien slumped down. Unmoving.
She looked around, heart pounding. People were ducking behind anything they could find but there was nothing to protect them.
“I can’t stay out of this,” Laurel muttered. She glanced down at the child that still clung to her, wide-eyed and shaking.
With a quick wave of her wand, Laurel summoned a deep, black hooded cloak out of thin air and draped it over herself. The hood shimmered and she tugged it down low over her face. She felt the magic hum.
Her identity is safe. For now.
Still holding the boy, Laurel turned back toward the diner. People were scattered in every direction, but she knew they wouldn’t last long out in the open. The streets were far too dangerous. She needed to do something to get them to some kind of safety.
Setting the child down gently, Laurel knelt to his level.
“I need you to listen to me very carefully,” she said, her voice calm despite the turmoil that stirred inside, “Go inside the diner and stay there. Do not leave until it’s safe.”
The boy nodded, his tear-stained face looking up at her with wide terrified eyes before he bolted to the diner’s door.
Laurel watched as he disappeared inside before turning back to the chaos around her.
“Right then,” she muttered, “Let’s get to work.”
She stepped forward, waving her wand through the air, casting all the protection spells she could remember over the diner. The glass windows shimmered as the wards settled into place. The building would hold. At least for a while.
Laurel then moved through the street making sure to gather whoever she could find. She directed them toward the diner and used her magic to move debris that blocked the way or to shield them from stray blasts.
For every person she rescued, it felt like ten more were in danger, but she kept going. Her cloak billowed behind her but the magic kept her face hidden.
A group of aliens blocked her back with their weapons raised.
Laurel quirked an eyebrow and with a single swipe of her wand a shockwave blasted them back and cleared the way for more civilians to escape.
As she helped an elderly couple into the diner, she glanced up at the sky. Iron Man streaked through the air, and she caught sight of Captain American leading civilian away from the fighting.
Her head swiveled as more alien soldiers swarmed the streets. Her eyes narrowed and she raised her wand, ready to strike the moment they were clumped closer together.
But suddenly, a roar echoed from above her and a massive green beast came crashing down and flattened the aliens into the ground with a few good punches.
Laurel blinked, lowered her wand, and watched at the Hulk let another chest rattling roar and leapt away. She exhaled sharply and shook her head.
“Bloody hell. I’m not the strangest one here today,” she muttered, a wry smile tugging at the corner of her mouth despite the devastation around her.
Finally, with the diner full or civilians and as protected as she could manage on short notice, Laurel slipped back into the streets, her cloak fluttering behind her. She moved through the wreckage, a lone protector, fighting to make sure as many people as possible survived the nightmare that was this day.