Tonks woke up in the morning hungover to find me in the kitchen playing guitar. After taking a hangover potion, she stayed for a while listening to me play, somewhat surprised.
"You improved very fast" She praised, since I was at a decent level unlike the last time she heard.
"I'm cool"
"Did you make breakfast? Mr. Cool"
"On the table..."
"hmm..."
We had a very normal chat, none of them mentioned yesterday, we just went back to how it was before, only now could see a couple of medals hanging in a picture on the wall, which gave a certain charism to the house.
Finishing up getting ready and off to work like every time before, but now everyone seemed to admire us and was more cordial. It was a nice feeling in a way, but we also missed when nobody knew us and we could go to work without having to stop so long to say hello.
We arrived at our office and surprisingly our title of heroes did not keep us from paperwork, as there was another new mountain. When we took the completed records we used to the supervisor, he asked us if we didn't want to 'offload' the rest of the work to someone else, since we are well-known people, and we must have important things to take care of. A 180 degree change in attitude, but we still refused. Although Tonks already has the fame to enter enough aurors without much trouble we will continue to improve our image, anyway we have nothing else to do until the next mission comes.
We went back to our office and as we continued our work, I told Tonks...
"Don't you think that everything was solved very easily?"
"Why do you say that?" she asked without stopping writing
"It's not like I'm disappointed, but like the whole issue with Garrick was resolved very quickly and without a lot of heads flying..."
"Well, the ministry would like to end all this as soon as possible, nobody wants a conflict between countries. I guess that's why they organized a trial so quickly…" she mused as she chewed on the tip of her pen.
"Yeah, I know…it's just that I feel like there wasn't a big ending…as if the story hadn't been closed" I couldn't get that idea out of my head.
"Wasn't the medals enough?"
"No, yes, but the head rolling on the ground was missing"
"Do you still want revenge? I know he received a light punishment compared to what he deserved for what he's done over the years, but maybe it's better this way. We won't see him here, and we won't get into trouble complicated"
"Can be..."
Our day went on normally, we had lunch in the afternoon and went back to work... but towards the end of the afternoon something happened. Our supervisor, to whom we handed the completed paperwork, came to our office.
He knocked on the door and entered with a face that expressed pity and guilt, he did not give me a good sign, since those emotions were directed at us.
"Akaichi, Tonks...how are you?"
"Well...? What's wrong?" Tonks asked after he also noticed that something was wrong.
"I... I have bad news for you... you were given a mission" he said somewhat sadly.
"A mission? Isn't that good?" Tonks asked.
"I guess for someone like you maybe it would be, but not this time"
"Explain" I told him to finish this, what is going on?
"You see, it seems that Garrick has a bit of a grudge against them."
If this were true, then it would be very easy to screw up our current effort. We could be classified as lawbreakers and fraudsters by having such a consecutive number of failures and sanctions when we were classified as ministry workers, albeit temporary. We could be sent to Azkaban for a few months because of that, and that could only make things very difficult.
"Not only that, this mission was issued just for the two of you, you won't be able to receive any help from the ministry other than some information about the criminals."
"This doesn't make fucking sense, let's communicate it, he can't just send us on a suicide mission and wait for us to die or lose our prestige for not being able to complete it" Tonks got up from her table and was about to run towards our superiors.
"Wait, Tonks" I stopped her before she left, "I guess it won't be that easy, right?" I said, looking at our supervisor.
"That's right," our supervisor said somewhat dejectedly, "Without the German ministry here to protect them, Garrick has leverage to obstruct them from doing enough to prevent it. Even if you could find a way to reject the mission and avoid the sanction, it would still be marked as a fatal flaw in their performance, and they would end up being removed from the program they are in. You are young and were only recognized for a little while, so the ministry wouldn't much mind making things difficult for you, even if you are the winner of an order of Merlin, they would surely find a reason to have it revoked to avoid inconvenience and bad reputation... even if they wanted to leave the country they would be categorized as minor criminals and fugitives, which will make it difficult for them to return"
"I…this…" Nymphadora was furious, her hair turning fiery red, and she couldn't even say the slightest word properly.
"Thanks for letting us know. Can you leave us for a while just to think?"
"Okay, if you want I can try to speak for you, although I don't think it will help much. You should give up, in a few years you could try again, and maybe you will have a chance"
"Thanks…" I waved him off, leaving just Tonks and me.
"Tenebrius!" Tonks called me completely mad, "can you do what you did before again? But this time you can make his intestines come out his ass" she was completely furious.
"I'm glad you think like me, but... I can't think of anything in the short term, it would be very difficult to do something in such a short time"
"Couldn't we ask the headmaster for help? He said to report any problems like this to it"
"You heard, even if he somehow gets something, it'll hurt us with our registration or the like. Besides, the headmaster is eager to get me out of here, so maybe I'd take this opportunity and leave you alone..."
"Yes, better not" quickly denied the idea of me leaving "So what do we do?" She quickly became depressed, changing from fury to sadness. Not hearing a satisfactory answer from me, she began to worry about us.
"Give me some time to think" I said and then put my elbows on my knees and join the fingers of my hands.
Tonks didn't interrupt me, at this moment she needed more than ever, or rather she wanted more than ever, for another evil plan to emerge. She tried to get on with her office work to distract herself while she waited for me, but it was almost impossible for her to concentrate.
After a while she went out to look for something to eat, but when she came back all she had with her was a newspaper and an angry face again.
"Look at this" she said and then put in front of me the newspaper that on its cover said -Britain's new heroes / A couple that emerged from misfortune-
The report carried within itself a slight interview with many more annotations such as... 'Tonks, renegade heiress of the Noble and Ancient House Black', 'Akaichi, the son of a prostitute who ascend from the bottom to here', 'A relationship between the fateful members of the magical world', 'Saving others to get forgiveness for our origin, the fight to be together', etc...
"Look... 'The winner of the order of Merlin first class, a great young man with a tragic past, unable to accept himself, that only accompanied by the banished heiress of a great lineage allows him to survive in this world. During the interview did not express his slightest opinion, showing that in this relationship it is Nymphadora Tonks who holds the reins and that he does not feel worthy of a mage of such lineage... his reason for being, to be able to be accompanied by his peculiar lover even in the most dangerous situations...' Author:Rita Skeeter"
"I told you it would get ugly even if I didn't talk, the media likes to make things interesting. I assure you that if I did talk, this could be worse"
"This day couldn't get any worse"
"Don't tempt the devil, or me, which is almost the same... relax, I already have a plan"
"Really?! Tell me that includes a Rotenrot brutally raped by a giant," she said excitedly.
"No... but he's very creative" I gave her a point for originality, but where would I find a giant and how could I take care not to be associated with that situation, it would be difficult to remove all the evidence against me.
"So what are we going to do to the bastard?"
"Nothing..."
"Nothing?"
"Yep, nothing... we can't act so soon against him, or will we be exposed, and it would only bring more problems. We'll have to wait for our revenge, although it wouldn't hurt to start learning where he lives. On the other hand, it's the mission I'm focused on, we have to find a way to overcome that obstacle if we want to move forward..."
"And how do we do that?"
"In the simplest way, completing it"
"Didn't you hear about what it is? Ten dangerous criminals! How are we going to do it?"
"Mostly, I will go headfirst and personally capture the criminals."
"But..."
"Remember that I'm not the real body, I could die in this way as many times as I want, and I could keep trying as long as no one finds out I'm Red" I reminded her, causing her to be surprised. It was true, without anyone taking down the main body, so 'nothing is impossible, only time is of the essence' "I just hope we can have enough time to achieve it"
"...I think it might work, but... Are you okay with that?"
"Yeah, just that I'll probably have to suffer the throes of death countless times, but I don't think it's that bad."
"Okay... So what do I do? You don't suppose I'd let you do all the work" She said, already getting a little excited about the idea.
"Of course not, I just won't risk your life. I only have one Tonks, and I'm not going to lose her"
"That I have to do?"
"First, with the supervisor's notice we know we can expect, possibly the mission will be sent to us tomorrow morning and from there we have a month. I need you to find our supervisor and ask him for all the information on our targets, from criminal records to places they frequent, and from there we will form a plan"
"Okay, what are you going to do?"
"I'll go buy a set of tools and potions as well as get myself a new costume"
"a costume?"
"Sure! Power's all in the costume!"
Tonks and I parted ways, she went for what I asked, I sent the non-magical clone to buy what he needed from the merchant and Tenebrius took it upon himself to practice trying to modify his own body to try to reduce the time it takes to create a new Tenebrius if he dies.
About 45 minutes later, Tonks came back with a mountain of folders, which she placed in front of my desk. When I looked at her, she gave me a nod, and then we review them.
4 men, 3 women and 3 unidentified. The unrecognized don't even have a photo, just data and descriptions. 7 of them have dead on their hands and the rest have only crimes that categorize them as 'non-dangerous'... three of those seven are classified as very dangerous and will be difficult to capture.
"We will start with these three, it will be less risky, and we will develop better tactics with what we learn from them"
"Angelina Wilfrein, Robert WoodWolf and Patricia Ratcliff. Charged with fraud, theft and disorderly conduct, among other things, low-medium difficulty level. Location, Hogsmeade and Kunckturn Alley mainly, although Wilfrein can be seen occasionally in the Leaky Cauldron" gave Tonks a brief description.
"Does it bother you that we don't get much sleep?" I asked for
"Will you still cook for me and help me with my office work?"
"Yes..."
"Who needs sleep!"
"Okay, we'll do this... we'll pay a visit to the Leaky Cauldron and you, in another guise, will ask for some material or business that Wilfrein has offered in the records. If you find it you'll let me know, if not, we'll go back there tomorrow, and we'll keep it that way until we do. We'll only be there half an hour to 45 minutes, then we'll travel down Kuncturn Alley and track down the other two, in taverns or on the streets, never wear the same identity. We'll keep in touch with my ability [message], it's not work in combat, so every 5 minutes you will send me a simple 'I'm fine', if I don't receive it I will run to your rescue... don't worry about me, the less we are seen together the better. Your main function is to use your ability to go unnoticed and inform me, I do the rest"
"Okay" She said, understanding of her role and why she was assigned it.
We start with our plan tonight. We went to the Leaky Cauldron and Kunckturn Alley to look for our targets. We didn't get many answers until 3am when we got back, but I noticed something, my [Hunter Essence] is activating, and I almost feel like I can feel it, my targets... my preys...
Tonks went back to our house, but I stayed. I told her that as long as my real body slept I would be fine, so she came back alone, as well as promising to come back early to prepare her breakfast.
The next morning I had to wake her up, since she couldn't get up, only this time it was just a pat... Finishing breakfast, we went to the office and there the order of our mission was waiting for us, and although we expected it, even so we were a little annoyed when we saw it.
After finishing some paperwork, we quickly left to continue our search. Like using the mission order, we could go out freely without anyone telling us anything. I put a series of police and detective music on my playlist to get a nice buff on our work, and we were off.
When we arrived at Diagon Alley my [Hunter Essence] activated. I don't know how or why, but I felt that I could 'smell' something that called out to me, I felt that what I was looking for was close by and that excited me a lot.
Yesterday I had sent the clone to buy what I needed from the merchant, and among those things I got myself a suit that seemed appropriate. It was a trench coat that looked like a mix of Alucard's and Seto Kaiba's. On the back I had a symbol that I designed with simple lines, they were a cross that represented a sword and some wings that protruded from it, on a semicircle in the lower part. (Image here)
Buy two sets, one dark gray with the red symbol for Tenebrius and one red with the black symbol for Red.
I put on that outfit and Tonks next to me was surprised. She didn't understand why I put it on, but she was also surprised that my look didn't look like the usual one, but rather that of an addict contemplating a line of cocaine...
"It's here" I said standing in front of the Leaky Cauldron "it covers the exits" I indicated to Tonks before entering.
Entering the Cauldron, I caught the attention of everyone present, Tonks had the form of an old woman, so she was mostly ignored, but I drew a lot of attention.
My eyes, ears and smell... all my senses are focused on a specific direction.
At a table in one corner, a trio of people could be seen talking to each other intently enough not to pay attention to my arrival. It was a mother and her daughter at a table conversing with a blond-haired witch in gray-and-white robes and a pointy cream hat.
My ballerina steps quickly sneaked me towards where they were, surprising them with my sudden appearance. Although there were only a few surprised at the bar, since no one had taken their eyes off me since he arrived.
"Angelina Wilfrein, you are under arrest by the British Ministry of Magic under the crimes of fraud, gimmick and robbery" I said without taking my penetrating gaze from her. Another thing to remove from my list of phrases.
The mother and daughter, as well as everyone present, were surprised by what I said, but the witch was not in the least excited.
"There must be a mistake, there must be the wrong person. Besides, since I know they're not trying to trick me, you seem very young to belong to the ministry" she said calmly, causing everyone to doubt me.
"Provisional Auror" I showed my badge that was on the inside of my clothes behind the trench coat.
"Okay, I'll go with you" she got up slowly from the chair "This is all a mistake, I'll go and prove it..." She quickly took out her wand from her robes but...
"Expelliarmus" casts a spell. My instincts were fully heightened and such a sharp, yet sudden action was easily noticed.
The witch's wand flew out and she without hesitation twice jumped over the table to run away, trying to escape. Tonks, standing in front of the gate to London, pulled her wand out of her, preparing to stop her.
But after the witch took only a few steps away from me, I jumped forward. My hand reached for hers, gripping the back of her head and pulling her down, causing her face to crash into the table.
Wilfrein fell to the ground almost unable to get up, my strength as a 'hunter' was almost equal to my normal state and in my normal state I'm already a bit above average for an adult.
I grabbed her hair and lifted her head. Her nose no longer protruded from her face, it was a bloody dent that kept staining the table with her blood, scaring the diners on it.
She was still moving, so I punched her in the face, knocking her out... after two punches. This brutal demonstration, together with my terrifying look, alarmed everyone, including my partner.It wasn't just my appearance and actions, but unknowingly, with [Hunter Essence] I activated my [Predator Presence] which at this time made more than one tremble due to its power. I dragged her to where her wand flew to pick it up and then walked over to the counter.
"We'll use your fireplace if you don't mind, we have to take this criminal away" I told Tom.
"Y-y-yes" he replied stammering.
Before I left, I slipped my hand into Wilfrein's clothes and felt inside them, not to taste her body, though I did. I was able to get a gallon bag of gold out of her clothes and throw it on the counter.
"She pays the next round" I said before leaving with Tonks
The bar was silent even after we left. Meanwhile, at the ministry, Tonks stared at me.
"What was that?"
"A great first entry, we will send a message. I have plans for the future, and Garrick will feel it"
"Won't we get in trouble?" she asked insecure.
"She resists…" I gave her a knowing look.
We handed over the unconscious and battered Wilfrein to criminal arresters and had to excuse her condition with her resistance to arrest. She would be treated and in the afternoon we would have to come and process her ourselves, for the time being we would get out again. There is less left... 1/10