Chapter 90 : The Culling battle

[IMPORTANT Author note : Head's up, guys ! At the end of this week, I'll be returning to posting one chapter a week. As Krishna0512 pointed out in his reviews (though it wasn't really what I had in mind when I was writing it), the N.O.W.H.E.R.E. arc and basically everything that followed the end of the Britain Wizarding war felt like a filler. It's true that I had a hard time finding a good intrigue, a good villain or simply writing the story. So... I plan on taking the time to think about it by only posting 1 chapter a week.

In the meantime, I'll also be posting 1 chapter of another fan fiction a week (on my Patréon for now). This one set in the marvel universe about a mutant. I'm really excited about the power of this character and I hope you'll be too.

If you're interested, visit my Patréon page (e instead of é) during the week. Search for Cathbel on their website. You can also continue to leave comments, reviews and stones ; they're always welcome :)

See you, guys and enjoy !]

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The thing with people predicting disasters, they tend to be seen in one of two ways. Some people would consider them alarmist, nut jobs only out to rouse the public's ire against the government and/or society. If they were considered seriously, they would be seen as threats to be dealt with or controlled.

On the opposite end of the spectrum were the followers. Those would consider the person a leader, a visionary, even perhaps a prophet. And when it started to turn to the spiritual, that's usually when things would go wrong.

In this case, Ron and Hermione's prediction of the coming war with the muggle world had given birth to a group of radicals. Almost fanatics really, who thought that the Wizarding World had to start arming themselves. Some even pushed for preemptive strikes to be led against the muggle governments… A sort of lesson that their world was far from being powerless and they were in fact, far superior to most of the muggle population. Those, in particular, had been more or less influenced by the ideas pushed in the last Wizarding wars by Voldemort and Grindelwald. While the former thought muggles were simply beneath him, needing to be put down, the latter argued that Wizards and Witches were actually a chosen race, that should lead the world into a brighter future.

So, the people pushing (and sometimes acting) for war, hid and acted in secret, trying to push their ideas, packaged as those of their 'new leader' onto others to recruit, persuade that their viewpoint was correct. Sometimes, they even came to blows in order for people to 'understand' them.

Ron and Harry had been called as reinforcements to deal with unrest pertaining to one particular radical group. Probably in honor of their leader, they called themselves the Weasels. Ron had even been asked directly by the director whether or not he had any involvement with them. Of course, he didn't. Or at least, he thought he didn't. The problem however, was that the group and others who shared their ideals, used a similar argument to the one he gave the previously defunct Order of the Phoenix.

And this, actually worried the ginger, even though he tried to hide it to his partner and best friend, as well as his fiancee. The only for something like that to happen was if… one of the people present was involved with these radicals. However, the Order wasn't an organization involved in dark magic, or even sharing the ideals of their former enemies. At least, that's what he always believed…

Albus Dumbledore had formed the Order during the first British Wizarding war specifically to oppose Voldemort and his Death Eaters. So, it stood to reason that the old wizard wouldn't have recruited any of their sympathizers. Still, there were a few people, notably Mundungus Fletcher, that were more than a little shady. Mundungus was involved in the black market and sold a lot of goods that weren't… exactly legit. His connection to the underworld and the dark community was actually what made him an important asset of the Order, since he would bring valuable information.

However, the man wasn't present during the meeting. And he made sure of only inviting people he trusted. Hermione had even helped him with that ! So, how… ? Or more importantly, who ?

What he didn't know, was that none of the people that were present were guilty of anything… Except maybe talking about it where they shouldn't have. A harmless discussion in bar, a word given in confidence to a friend… And like the famed Hogwarts rumor mill, the idea had travelled through most of Britain's Wizarding community.

From there, it only took a few like-minded individuals, who either didn't think very far in the future, or who simply wanted to see the world burn to start building a new movement. Like Grindelwald had done in the past, they argued wanting to protect the Wizarding world from the muggle threat while what they really wanted was probably to ruler over them.

While their threat level was, at the moment, not very high, they were still on the Auror's office watch-list. And so was Ron. Though, in his case, his boss had the decency to say it to his face that he would be watched.

And so, Ron was feeling quite stressed these days. All his hard work, the position and respect he had built… He felt like it could all come crashing down. If only he hadn't seen the signs !

For perhaps the hundred times today, Ron sighed as he fiddled with his collar. Sitting at his desk and gazing vacantly in front of him, Ron continued to rummage through his thoughts and the possible suspects. If he could find him or her…

* * * * *

Ned weaved through the many individual battles, using his sonic gun to deal internal damage to the ones he deemed dangerous to himself and his group. In the meantime, his allies soon found themselves buffed (for lack of a better word) by something unknown. It was his 'aura'. Sometimes, he used it to heal their small injuries, other times to speed them up. Unfortunately, he noticed a few times that the speeding aura was not very useful most of the time. In fact, it was the opposite.

People were used to move at a certain speed. However, if they suddenly became faster out of the blue, especially during a fight, they would overshoot their strike, miss or stumble in surprise.

It was a shame really, since he quite liked the aura. After all, he benefited from it too !

His children were assuming roles of their own. Mel, as a sniper. Before the fight even started, she had taken some distance from the group and was now mostly hidden from sight. Winston was a force of nature, using his jetpack and Tesla cannon, he dished out punishment to the wannabe Ravagers and possible killers. Sombra, much like Ned, was running around, camouflaged before she could strike a decisive to this or that enemy. Bastion and Symmetra had teamed up. While Symmetra secured an area with her small laser turrets, Bastion was covering her in his gatling form and attacking those farther than her turrets could deal with.

Meanwhile, much like the Overwatch team was doing, the Teen Titans too were each fighting on their own. For once, Superboy was enjoying himself fighting. After all, it was all so easy, now ! Before, if he wanted to deal with metahumans, he had to resort to martial arts techniques and trickery. Now, he could just bulldoze his way through his opponents almost effortlessly. He almost wanted to kiss the african-american who helped unlock his powers !

Cassie was… being Cassie. Although she didn't have the TK and Kryptonian bullshit powers, she still acted like a cannonball in porcelain shop. She didn't care how much the people trying to kill her hurt from her punches and kicks. In fact, she didn't even think of it ! She simply didn't have the luxury. What she did was do the most damage possible to put down her enemies down as fast as possible.

Solstice and Kid Flash were covering for each other with the latter running around the former to push and knock down anyone trying to come close to his belle. It was obvious to Ned that there was something going on between those two. He wondered how things would pan out for the two when Kid Flash's real identity came to light… The comics were a bit obscure about that.

Robin was trying to emulate his hero and mentor, using the darkness and the confusion of the battle to disappear in the crowd and sneak attacking before disappearing again.

Skitter was nowhere to be found, acting very much like the stealthy insectoid predator she was. As for Bunker, earning his moniker, the young man built himself a small bunker to hide behind while simultaneously attacking with his psionic brick construct from the safety of his hideout.

Then, there was the trio : Artemis, Bloodsmith (formerly Weapons Master) and Delphi. The kinda leader, Artemis, was using a spear for some reason, instead of a bow. Then again, Artemis being the goddess of the hunt, a spear was also fitting. Bloodsmith was… a mess ! He was getting beat up every which way but kept getting up like a zombie, surprising and frightening his opponents. He would then use that surprise to counterattack. Delphi, on the other hand, was mostly avoiding the attacks directed at her and using the environment to trip her enemies.

The battle went on for a while until only two groups were left standing. Ned and co's rather large team and a team of people obviously well-trained and who knew how to work well together. Ned slid to a halt and directed his gaze at the reforming group, memories coming unbidden to his mind…

The Lost Legion.

« So… Here they are ! » He muttered to himself.