Chapter 69 : Power tier
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As silence fell over the room, Ron nodded and Hermione took over :
« We think it's been a while already since people beyond the ones our government made aware of our existence have known. They've simply kept silent about it… Probably aware of our methods, or simply because it gave them an advantage. Either way, just like traces of our existence could be found if muggles looked hard enough, we've glimpsed a few clues that point out to this possibility. »
Before anyone could argue that it was just a hunch, Ron continued his girlfriend's point :
« And even if we're wrong on this, it's only a matter of time. » Saying this, he showed an image on his M-phone. To most people, it would only look like a scantily clad woman posing on screen, and Ron showing everyone of his proclivities. For the muggleborns and other wizard who kept an ear in the muggle world, however…
« Is that Wonder Woman ? »
Ron nodded and explained.
« For those of you who don't know. Diana of Themyscira, also better known as Wonder Woman, is an immortal amazon. There are photos and mentions of her in the muggle world ever since World War I… If her longevity could simply be explained by the fact that she's an alien, or possesses some kind of regenerative power… The truth is neither of those. She's a Greek Demi-god. »
Charlie asked :
« What's that got to do with us ? »
Ron sighed and this time, he showed a video of a stage magician… Only, to everyone present, it was clear this so-called stage magician, was actually using real magic.
« This man's name is Giovanni Zatara and is a pretty famous magician in Las Vegas. As you can see, he uses real magic in his shows and MACUSA lets him since he passes it off as stage magic. However, mister Zatara is also a rather renowned problem solver, of the magical kind. He's battled demons, dark magicians bent on enslaving mankind or raise the dead, etc… »
Bill frowned but commented tentatively :
« You're saying that… Demons and Greek gods… Sooner or later, proofs of their existence will come to light. And if they exist… »
« Magic will be exposed, too ! » Ron finished for him. « If you don't know of the myths… The Greek Gods have been known to mix among humans either to procreate, punish or simply because of boredom. As for demons… Well, from what I gathered, they're mostly bent on world conquest, destruction or corruption. They don't care about hiding their existence… »
Hermione interjected :
« In recent years, these events have started to increase exponentially for some reason. And even the muggle world is starting to experience its own share of unexplainable events. God-like visitors from outer space, people capable of running at the speed of light, or wield hardened light constructs to create, fight or defend… Simply put, things are bound to change forced by the chaotic times. »
« In addition, while the government and people in general would like to think that we've done an amazing job erasing the memories of muggle witnesses,… » Ron raised yet another point : « … in times of war, it was simply impossible not to miss something. And both Dark Lords pushed us into wars. They don't really advertise it in the media but the Obliviators still find witnesses from those war among the muggles and wipe their memories, years after the fact ! »
Remus and Tonks exchanged a look where the man seemed to ask something of his younger wife silently, and she nodded. He frowned and commented :
« Those people would have led years of their lives with this secret, sharing it, perhaps even writing it down… »
« Exactly ! » Ron said. « Thankfully, most muggles are extremely skeptical, not to mention vocal about their skepticism. They shoot down any of this 'crazy talk' as they call it. Their mainstreams media don't bother to report on it either. Still, they have a few magazines and newspapers that do. But the worst that might happen would be… If someone powerful or influential were to learn of our existence, but kept it a secret. What if an organization like the MI6 were to know of us ? Or a multinational ? »
Aberforth, who had been listening silently until now, grumbled a question :
« If you've gathered us here today, and you mentioned it already, I'm guessing your plan involves the Order of the Phoenix ? »
Ron nodded. Aberforth asked further :
« Why ? And how ? »
« Unlike the Auror or Hit Wizards forces, the Order had an advantage. Their members came from all walks of life ! It's easier to gather for the Order to gather information, despite the Ministry's backing our law enforcement. In fact, because of rules and regulations, it's actually often harder for them to act sometimes. » He shrugged. « I love my job, don't get me wrong ! But I'm sometimes frustrated when I can't arrest a dirtbag because of who his daddy is or how much money he's greased our superiors with. Even the informations we gather is sometimes flawed by the view of the person who wrote the report… So, yeah ! That's one of the reason I think we should reform the Order of the Phoenix… »
Sirius Black, who finally was starting to not look like an emaciated walking corpse after his long stay in Azkaban and his stint as a fugitive, cupped his chin with one hand, a mischievous glint in his eyes as he asked :
« And then what ? »
« And then… »
* * * * *
While the (re)birth of an old Order was being planned across the Atlantic, Ned was still working on the Gonites project. Fortunately, he had finished building the machine that would build the factory… They were now operating autonomously, allowing him to work on other things.
Mainly, the design of the gonites, their functions, their code… At the moment, as the machines were making an ungodly racket in the background, Ned was standing in his armor, a pen half-crushed between his finger as he tapped it on the table rhythmically. He muttered :
« Should I use them as a bridge for the Matrix and Cortical stack projects ? They'll travel through my bloodstream, interacting and messing with a lot of functions of my body already… Perhaps I should carve the basics of a legilimency and occlumency enchantments until I can finish those projects… »
Ned flipped the pen in his hand, before clicking it open to start writing on the sheet of paper.
« If it works, I'd be left only with finding a way to 'acquire' the knowledge trapped in the minds of knowledgeable people, converting it in data to be processed and building the interface to upload the knowledge in my mind. For the Matrix project… » Ned paused and looked in the distance, his gaze vacant for a second behind his face-plate. « For the cortical stacks, I'd need to transform my soul, spirit or whatever else into a Tech-spirit and find a way to move it from organics to organics. Obviously, the new host would need my gonites… Though I still don't know if I want to play it like the Exorcistand take over the body of someone, or just create a body of my own… For the latter, my studies in genetics and cloning are far from being enough. Not to mention that I would need to either find a way to speed the process of growing my new body, or figure out how to make grown ones… Guess I could start to dabble in flesh golems. That's really too bad the Ministry considers this Dark Magic… »
He shook his head :
« Then again, with the means Wizards and witches had at their disposal, they could only use the body parts of beings and people recently dead… Meaning they were often the cause of their deaths. On the other hand, I just have to work on a way to grow separate organs and parts in some way. »
He started to write feverishly as he thought of Altered Carbon and the 3D-like printer that made a copy of the protagonist's body in Season 1. Something like this… But not a whole body as that would be difficult. Individual organs, however… Now, he just needed to figure out the materials needed for something like this. Not only for the machine, but also what would later compose the organs and parts… The human body was mostly composed of carbon, so that was a given… Bio-mass, and water was also needed.
« Guess I need to figure out every single chemicals composing the human body… »
He grinned as he raised his gaze to watch his machine working in the distance. He could feel it… Soon, he would join the ranks of power-houses like Superman ! At that point, he wouldn't need to fear for his life as much !