"I'd love to hear how they plan to sweep this under the rug..."
Inside a small office, three figures sat around a table while the pale glow of the television filled the room, the live broadcast showing the situation in London where crowds of people stood frozen in place, staring at the two figures amidst the ruined street.
Fury rested an arm on the table and shook his head faintly. "That kid shouldn't be dumb enough to think the whole world wouldn't notice..."
"I didn't call him stupid," Peggy corrected lightly. "I'm just trying to figure out how they're going to cover all this up." She nodded faintly toward the television. "Given that you seem fairly familiar with him, what do you think?"
"I wouldn't call myself a wizard expert, ma'am," Fury replied with a small shrug, "but from the little I've understood about them, all I can say is they have some kind of abracadabra for basically everything."
"You're probably right about one thing," Pierce said with an absent-minded nod. He tapped a finger lightly against the armrest of his chair before continuing. "The High Councillor can't possibly be unaware that this is going to dominate every news channel on the planet."
The room grew quiet again. Peggy hummed softly under her breath while staring at the television, her expression turning thoughtful as she leaned back into her chair. "I can make a fairly bold guess here," she said after a moment.
Pierce gave a low chuckle and settled back comfortably as well. "I'd wager we're both thinking the exact same thing right now."
Fury glanced between the two with growing curiosity. From the looks on their faces, the two veterans seemed to have reached some conclusion several steps ahead of him.
---
No matter where one looked, similar scenes were taking place throughout the world. Whether in the offices of world leaders or inside ordinary homes and pubs, people everywhere stared at their screens while every news channel aired the same incident.
Of course, not everyone reacted the same way. People who already knew about the hidden side of the world were left more bewildered than surprised, while ordinary people immediately started coming up with countless conspiracy theories.
Some assumed it was an alien invasion, others connected it to religion, thought it was some kind of divine event, and a few were already convinced the end of the world had arrived.
The magical world, too, was in turmoil. Gone were the days when witches and wizards had to wait for the morning paper to learn about major news, as Magic Vision now allowed live broadcasts across magical households everywhere. They, much like the non-magical one, was watching the unfolding chaos live in real time.
Even Hogwarts, which should have been celebrating tonight, now felt more like a theatre hall filled with stunned spectators.
The majority of the audience was still present when the five enormous screens over the stands suddenly changed from showing the champions celebrating their victory to showing the chaos taking place over Britain's capital.
"Bloody hell... what even is that?" Ron's face was pale, staring at the creature's face enlarged on the screen with the same horrified expression he usually reserved for giant spiders.
"Some sort of snake-like chimera, I think," Hermione said, looking just as unsettled. "I've never read about anything like that in any of the Fantastic Beasts books."
Beside her, Ginny swallowed nervously. "Professor Caesar seems to have things under control now at least..."
"Yeah..." Hermione nodded slowly. "I'm just worried about the people in the city. It looked really chaotic."
"I checked on your grandmother earlier. She said police are everywhere outside, though thankfully the area near home seems relatively calm."
"You called Grandma?" Hermione blinked twice at her father. "No, wait... how did you even do that from Hogwarts?"
"Ah, I have Mr. Weasley to thank for that..."
"If you are interested, Richard, I can arrange a mobile phone modified to work around magic. They'll be introduced to the wizarding public next year, anyways..." Since Arthur Weasley oversaw Hybrid Alchemy production for Maverick's company, it was only natural that he carried around prototype tech.
"Oh, I'd appreciate that very much, Arthur."
"Hang on, Dad, what about us?"
"Exactly. We want one too."
Quite how the atmosphere turned from tense silence to enthusiastic arguing over magical phones was a mystery in itself.
The group sat together, family and friends, the Weasleys occupying nearly an entire section by themselves, while Hermione's parents sat close beside them. Jean was there as well together with several members of the X-Men she had invited to watch the tournament.
The mutant leader had gladly accepted the invitation. In fact, he had not missed a single round of the Triwizard Tournament, seemed genuinely interested in the wizarding community and everything connected to it. Maybe he hoped the magical world held answers that could someday help mutants find the same acceptance among the greater world.
"Professor, we should be helping out over there..." the little phoenix turned toward Charles Xavier again, concern clear on her face.
She had insisted on leaving the moment the live broadcast began, but Xavier insisted they stay, trusting that Maverick could handle the situation.
He had a feeling things were not as simple as they appeared on the surface, and besides, there only seemed to be a single enemy while an oddly convenient number of people already appeared prepared to control the chaos.
The professor remained quiet for a moment before giving another small shake of his head. "Even if we went, there's not much we could contribute, Jean. We might very well complicate matters instead."
"We could still help the civilians..."
"You, little girl, are exactly where you should be. If anyone's going, it should be us adults." Ororo reached over and gave her a soft pat on the head. She glanced back toward the screens, "Besides, your teacher appears to have already defeated that thing."
Hardly anyone realized the ugly creature on the screen was actually Voldemort. Most simply assumed it was some kind of dark creature or perhaps a wizard who had performed horribly twisted rituals on himself.
As insane as he had been, Tom Riddle was actually considered quite handsome in his younger days before his supposed death, so it was understandable that nobody made the connection.
Few, however, recognized him almost immediately. One especially bitter professor had been restless ever since the Dark Mark on his arm suddenly began burning again after lying dormant for years.
Likewise, a certain headmaster also sat stiffly in his seat with the expression of a man who had just swallowed something rotten. Although Igor Karkaroff had removed the Dark Mark years ago after advancing to the rank of Great Magus, he still recognized his former master almost immediately.
With Voldemort believed dead and his own power having greatly increased since then, Igor saw no reason to remain loyal anymore. Then again, loyalty had never truly existed to begin with. Fear was what kept most Death Eaters obedient.
Naturally, if Voldemort had never fallen thirteen years earlier, Karkaroff would almost certainly still be serving beneath him because the difference between a Magus and a Great Magus was meaningless compared to the terrifying power possessed by an Archmage.
Therefore, seeing his former master return, with no doubt in his mind that the hideous creature on the screen was Voldemort, Karkaroff felt pure terror. Perhaps nobody in the stadium wished for Maverick to destroy the Dark Lord more than he did.
---
Maverick descended slowly from the sky until his boots hovered a few feet above the shattered street, his coat fluttering softly against the night breeze.
The street was filled with drifting dust illuminated by flashing police lights and occasional camera bursts from random directions. Farther away, sirens still cried through the city, though here, everything seemed to have gone strangely silent.
He gave a lazy wave, and as soon as the dust cleared, low murmurs immediately spread through the street.
Within the crater, Voldemort stirred weakly before pushing himself upright with visible effort. He rose unsteadily to his feet, breathing hard, his thin chest rising and falling beneath robes that were scorched and half torn apart.
"Surrender, Tom Riddle."
Maverick did not raise his voice, however, every single person in the street heard him clearly. At the same time, the microphones carried the words across televisions and magical broadcasts alike, sending them echoing into homes, bars, offices, and crowded streets across the world.
Obviously, that was done intentionally. At least the world needed to know who he was fighting against before calling it a night. As for asking Voldemort to surrender, naturally, that was also for people to hear.
"Huhuhu... Hahahaha..."
The Dark Lord began to laugh, starting as a low, breathy chuckle before rising sharply into cold, mad laughter that echoed through the ruined street.
"I admit your magic is much stronger than mine at the moment, but do you really think that's enough to completely keep me here?" As he spoke, he glanced around at the countless people there, and his grin widened even more.
"I am curious," he said softly, turning back toward Maverick. "Where is that fellow Garling?"
"Teacher is out there helping the people... Had you not so shamelessly run to such a populated area, the both of us working together would have brought you down by now..."
"I... ran?"
Voldemort was utterly bewildered, his mouth hanging half open for a moment, but Maverick did not give him time to think.
"I'll say it again, surrender!"
As he said, a bright orange glow ignited within his eyes, drawing some more startled gasps from the surrounding crowd.
At the same time, his posture changed into a combat stance, both arms spreading apart while ribbons of burning orange energy spiraled around his hands and condensed into glowing circles.
The murmurs around grew even louder, joined by the constant clicking of cameras while those farther back craned their necks and shoved against each other to look ahead.
Voldemort still seemed frozen by what he had heard earlier, his mind seemingly taking time to process it until sudden realization finally flashed through his snake-like eyes.
His already grotesque expression then darkened into fury, but whatever conclusion he had reached could wait, as the other party had already taken action.
"NIYAAA—"
He snapped his wand forward, however, he was still a little too late. An orange leash of energy had already wrapped around his wand hand like burning bindings. It happened so quickly, and because the means of attack was so strange, he did not know how to react for a moment.
Another shot came immediately afterward, like blazing restraints, the glowing orange energy wrapped itself around both his hands almost at the same time.
Thud—Thud—Thud—Thud!
Then another followed, and another, and another, before long, he resembled a trapped beast, all four limbs and even his neck restrained by glowing orange bindings rooted firmly into the street.
Only his eyes were spared, glowing with such terrifying crimson that they looked almost wet with blood.
Maverick, however, paid no attention to him and simply made one final gesture with his hand. Naturally, he was not about to publicly kill Voldemort in front of billions of watching eyes, that would leave a rather nasty stain on his pure and innocent image.
Cough.
Finally, a glowing circle spread open beneath Voldemort's feet, and his glorified mummified body slowly began sinking into the darkness below.
Across the globe, billions remained glued to their screens without a word, and at the scene, the crowd had also fallen into silence, broken only by the nonstop clicking of cameras.
It looked as though the nightmare had finally come to an end. For Maverick, however, this was only the beginning.
Literally overnight, he had changed the world, and as the face of the entire incident, there was no doubt people would demand answers from him.
Of course, he could simply flex his muscles and ignore it all, but where was the fun in that? The only reason he had arranged this whole drama was because he wanted a more, for lack of a better word, diplomatic, approach, to exposing magic to the world.
Otherwise, he could have simply pulled a Tony Stark, walked into a press conference, announced everything openly, and been done with it.
The corner of his lips curled into a faint smile at the thought, when suddenly, his magical senses picked up something approaching from the distance, racing toward him at terrifying speed.
His head snapped toward the distance at once, his pupils shrinking. The world around him appeared to slow beneath his heightened perception, everything becoming clearer.
Both his arms shot forward almost immediately, summoning a massive glowing circle of orange energy before him. Another appeared behind it an instant later, then a third beside them. In less than a second, three enormous layers of glowing energy stood between him and whatever that was coming.
SHRRRINGGG—BOOOOM—!
It was a horrifying beam of nothing but raw energy, crossing who knows how much distance like a divine bullet.
CRACK!
The first barrier shattered almost instantly.
CRACK!
The second layer exploded apart moments later.
The force behind the attack was unfathomable, and he was thrown backward so violently that he could barely comprehend how much distance he had crossed within that single instant. The ruined street beneath him became a blur as the world itself seemed to race backward.
Crack!
The final layer of energy began splintering apart as well when his eyes suddenly blazed orange. Magic surged violently into the barrier as he slammed both feet against the ground hard enough to tear through the street beneath him, dragging two long cracks across the shattered road while resisting the overwhelming force.
Oddly enough, there was no explosion whatsoever when the attacks collided, nor any fire or destructive shockwave spreading outward.
It was simply a terrifyingly concentrated ray of energy whose only purpose seemed to be forcing him backward through sheer overwhelming power.
Drrrrrrrrrrrrr!
The jet of energy finally started fading once his resistance caught up to its force, the grinding movement of his feet gradually slowing down until soon, the pressure vanished completely.
And at last, he slowly lifted his gaze toward the distant horizon, toward the source of the attack, while his magical sense exploded outward.
Like a raging tsunami, it swept across the city in an instant, flooding over streets, buildings, rivers, and countless lives before finally crashing upon a single point far, far away.
His eyes could not make out the distant figure, but his magical sense captured it with absolute clarity, along with the sudden realization that the other side was watching him too.
His brows furrowed. Brushing away the concrete and dust slowly rising from the ground, he did not hesitate for even a second before tearing through space directly toward that precise location.
—————————
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