Chapter 17 : Battle in the woods

[Author note : New Iron Lad Squib. Hope you like it ! Also, yet another story... Or rather what I've yet written of it, has been released on P A T R E O N : The Master of Healing. As usual the synopsis is available for everyone to read but the story itself is exclusive content for my Patrons. Come take a look !

If you're interested in my stories or want to encourage me, please check out my Patréon : https://www.patréon.com/user?u=66371596 (replace the é by a normal e) or look for Cathbel on their website

KoSP : 2 advanced chapters

The Squib who became Iron Lad... In DC : 3 advanced chapters

AoH : Prologue + 6 chapters (exclusive)

MoH : 8 chapters (exclusive)

Enjoy and please tell me what you think of it !]

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Ned was in a pinch ! Not really… As he was flying to his usual testing ground for his hoverskates, he was ambushed by a group of a dozen or so wizards and witches. The fact that he wasn't really paying attention to his flight forced Mel to dodge the attack in his stead. Soon, they knew of the group's identity by the silly masks they were wearing, but the spell most used should have clued them in : the Killing curse.

Ned sighed and, a second later, with a deadpan tone, he exclaimed :

« Magic is real ?! No way ! Why are you aiming those sticks at me ? And what's with the masks ? Is there a costume party I haven't been invited to ? »

Inwardly however, he was panicking. Not a full blown panic where he loses his head, the cold sweat drenching him kind of panic. It seemed Death Eaters weren't completely stupid since they tracked him down. At least, with Mel's help, they made sure not to get home directly : they made sure they weren't followed, used illusions to head home and had a few other precautions and contingencies in place.

The fact that they were even here surprised him a bit, to be honest… Ned was rather confident in his country's measures to keep foreign magical kind outside their borders. It seemed he had either overestimated them or underestimated the Death Eaters.

As he hovered slowly around the group, paying them careful attention because of the earlier wake up call, he tried not to think of his discussion with the beautiful miss Noir… He muttered to himself :

« Focus, Ned ! Those aren't the local thugs ! They're part of an honest to goodness international mob ! »

It seemed one of the wizard had heard him as he refuted loudly :

« We're not the mob ! We're the followers of the greatest Dark Lord in History ! »

« Meh ! Hardly ! He's a pipsqueak compared to Grindelwald… The craziest on the other hand, that I can agree with ! 'Cause that's the definition of insanity to repeat something over and over again and expect a different result ! » To himself, he added in a lower tone of voice : « Although, that doesn't seem to be such an uncommon trait among Wizarding kind… Craziness, I mean ! »

« Aha ! So, you are the Silver Lad from the Ministry ! Otherwise, you wouldn't know that name ! »

The fact that the man didn't get mad when Ned called his boss crazy was… surprising ? Not really sure. Did witches and wizards assume their madness ? Dumbledore who was kind of the UK Wizarding world's hero was known to be crazy too, so maybe… What if a high magical power equals a similar amount of madness ? Perhaps he shouldn't work so hard on obtaining his own form of magic beyond his armors ! Under his breath, the squib told Mel semi-seriously :

« New research topic : study possible correlations between high magical level and mental illnesses in a host body. »

« … Acknowledged. » Mel replied after a short moment of silence.

In the meantime, the bad guys were content in monologuing. Ned thought that was a cliche but apparently not. He idly wondered if there was a class for megalomaniacal bad guys out there somewhere. If only the 'leader' had charisma but he didn't. He was stuttering, hesitating in how to tell his story… Basically, it was all over the place and not very understandable as is.

« I'mma stop ya, now ! If you're trying to write an autobiography just… don't ! Basically, you're telling me that, you caught the armor on the news channel in a bar or something and you decided, with your cohort to ambush me, right ? Question : now that that's failed, how are you planning on taking me out ? You did mention you wanted to 'avenge the affront done to your cult leader', right ? So, ahem… How ? When even he couldn't get the job done. »

What answered was silence. Heavy, awkward. A lot of exchanged glances between the Death Eaters, as the realization dawned on them that… They were probably screwed. Unless they landed a lucky shot. So, without further ado, they started firing ! Following his onboard software's analysis and the commentary from Mel, Ned decided to either let a (mostly) harmless spell splash over his silver shielding, dodged an unforgivable or unknown dark spell, or erected protective barriers when necessary.

It made for an impressive image of a lone person dancing in armor in the midst of enemies bombarding him with spells. Impressive and out of place. The Death Eaters, for the moment, were gaining confidence as it seemed that it was impossible for Ned to retaliate since he was too preoccupied with just countering their spell-fire. This notion, however, was quickly proven wrong when his upbeat voice spoke up :

« Okay, now I've warmed up enough ! Let's deal with you thugs, shall we ? »

He appeared relaxed, however he was merely bluffing. It took everything he had in him to react in this situation ! Fortunately, if he also wanted to attack, it wasn't completely impossible.

As soon as his words fell in the Death Eaters' ears and were allowed a bit of time to be processed, the armor started fighting back. Not the man : the armor ! As Ned was dodging or somehow countering the enemies, Mel used the Legilimency enchantment to adjust a counterattack. One which wouldn't imbalance Ned or impede him in any way… Otherwise, not only he, but Mel also didn't know what would happen to him/them. They still had no real data of the impact of an Unforgivable on a Tech-Spirit. Obviously, Ned refused to conduct any tests about that on his 'children'…

Mel understood, and might feel grateful for it ; she wasn't sure of it since emotions and their meaning were still difficult for her to process…

As Ned ducked under another stunning spell, Mel made use of the lull of attacks to snap Ned's left hand forward, opened. The gauntlets focus lit up and soon a blade of water cut the air vertically, digging in the ground and forcing two wizards to dodge to the side, thereby disrupting their attack. And so, she continued her assault !

With a burst of air from her right leg and a smidge of anti-gravity, she propelled Ned backward into the closest Death Eater, catching him with the back of the armor forearm and sending him flying. Inside the armor, Ned winced slightly when he felt and heard the crack of bones, before he shook it off. It was them or him. And they were more than happy to end him permanently, according to the spells they used.

Ned yelled inwardly 'protego' while putting his arm forward as a powerful bombarda spell impacted his defenses, forcing him a bit backward and raising dust in the area. Once more, Mel took advantage of the situation, but this time to disappear in the forest around the group. Ned and Mel's will both came together at this point as they made use of the hoverskates to silently and swiftly racing back and forth between the opponents. They managed to knock out 3 people before the assailants started to get wise and blew out the dust cloud.

Ned was surprised when the man he was pretty sure had his face smashed in, got up and started to apply healing magic on his wounds. The reason he was surprised ? Magic was extremely reliant on emotion and intent, so with an injury like this, it should be difficult to focus on anything but the pain. And yet…

It was sad really, to witness such a display of will and skill used by a bigoted moron who joined a gang of like-minded idiots. Ned lamented that instead of being a Death Eater, the man could have become a renowned healer… Unless he already was one ? Don't they had an oath not to do harm or was it just the no-maj doctors ?

To himself, Ned repeated once more :

« Focus, dammit ! What's wrong with my mind today ? »

Although he had Mel in case he came up short, it wasn't a reason for him to act so distracted, especially in the middle of a fight like this ! Was this perhaps because it had been a long time since he wore the armor to fight ? Not that he fought all that much… Once or twice against Voldemort and his morons… Thrice, now actually. Once against Brainiac's drones and a cyborg. Was that it ? Oh ! There also was this one time when he stopped a speeding car fleeing a robbery… Though he didn't know if it should be counted since a few words from him had the people drop their weapons. Thinking back on it, it was kind of funny since one girl wanted to ask for his autograph while being arrested…

Suddenly, he growled :

« I'm doing it. Again ! »

Angry with himself, he pushed himself forward and into the fray, asking Mel to take on the role of defending them. A couple of dash later, he tackled a man to the ground and continued skating toward another. With a mental command, apertures on his shoulders opened, targeting the enemies around him and firing stunning spells. Some of the assailants were surprised and hit, while others managed to protect themselves and fire back. Meanwhile, he closed in on another wizard and as the man was raising his wand, Ned activated the wrist-mounted lightsaber, cutting the weapon along with a few fingers.

« Aaaah ! » The man yelled clutching his hand before a swift punch to his jaw shut him up.

The Death Eaters semblance of cohesion crumbled fast in front of something they barely comprehended. To them, something like this was… unnatural. Someone using a wand to rapidly cast spells, achieving feats of magic like their master, they could understand. Even accept. They could even understand someone using physical strength to subdue another, though most of them thought it beneath them and the hallmarks of muggles. But this ? This was like the Goblin Wars' History was revisited… A thousand times worse. And instead of an army of the little midgets using enchanted weapons and armor, only one using enchanted armor and magic was laying waste to them !

Moreover, their opponent was so skilled, it almost looked like he was a seer since he seemed able to accurately gauge whether or not to dodge or block a spell. Oh ! And of course, they couldn't tell from which part of his blasted armor a spell would come from ! Feet, hands, shoulders, even the hips…

What they didn't know was that the battle took its own toll on Ned's armor and energy reserves. At the rate he was consuming the magical energy stored in his reactor, he couldn't sustain the fight for too long. Maybe 10-15 minutes…

Fortunately for him, the fight didn't last that long. Soon, Ned was the only figure standing, or rather floating, in the middle of the forest that had become a battlefield. As he looked around at his opponents, he also regretted the destruction they caused to the scenery. Uprooted or broken trees, scars and gouges left where cutting spells failed to touch him, small and large craters from dodged or redirected explosive spells.

The Silver Lad wondered :

« Now what should I do ? »

He couldn't exactly call the police to arrest these men : not only would that be a possible breach of the Statute, they simply weren't equipped to handle Magicals. Unless they wanted to end the threat they represented, permanently… For that, they were well equipped.

As for calling Aurors ? Well, that was another problem ! If he did, it was like telling them that he belonged in their world and with that, they'd start to question everything about him : his identity, how his armor was powered, how its functions and weapons worked. Perhaps, they'd even try to apprehend him along with them !

In the end, he decided to, indeed call them and to leave the scene, right away. They wouldn't wake up anytime soon anyway. For those that could. As he floated between the trees to take on altitude, he didn't think back on how his mind had twice almost betrayed him…