This is a Harry Potter/Unreal crossover. By Unreal I mean the game (Unreal Tournament 2004 and Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict are the ones I’m basing it on). You don’t have to have played or heard of Unreal to read this.

If you haven’t heard of Unreal, this is what you need to know for the fic.

A kill is called a frag. To enter the tournament you need to complete a ladder of deathmatches (basically running around and killing everything that moves). If you die in Unreal, you respawn somewhere so it’s not permanent :D.

That’s pretty much all you need to know. If you want more see my profile.

Re-edited and hopefully improved 16/07/06

31st October, 1981

The house crackled and burned as a baby coughed and cried in the wreckage. A woman with long, red hair lay unmarked and dead next to the bawling baby. Nearby, half buried, a dark, messy haired man was crumpled, his twisted glasses lying close to his cold hand.

Suddenly, a large motorbike skidded to a halt by the house. It was transparent, and swirls of blue, pink and purple twisted thickly trough the jellylike bike.

Two people jumped off the bike, one wearing a deep scowl.

“I don’t know why you wanted my to stop the time bike, Sapphire,” said a man wearing a large hat. “But you’d better have a good reason.”

The woman laughed.

“Didn’t you hear it, Raiden? There’s a baby crying in the wreckage… And you said you wanted to recruit the champions of the galaxy – here’s your chance to raise one.”

‘This is because you think I’m old and need something to run after, isn’t it?” accused Raiden.

Sapphire laughed again, and shook her blonde head. She leapt easily over the burning walls, impossibly doing a second jump in midair. Raiden followed reluctantly.

Sapphire picked up the baby gently, and rocked it in an attempt to quiet it.

“I refuse to raise that thing – it’s a human child!” he protested.

Sapphire glared.

“So was I,” she replied icily. She thrust the scarred baby into Raiden’s arms, and stalked off.

Raiden sighed and looked at his new protégée. It quietened, and stared back with large, clear green eyes.

He started to follow Sapphire, but tripped over a half buried object. He glared at it evilly, and picked it up. It was a photo album. He put out the burning edges carefully, and opened it randomly.

“Harry on Padfoot,” read Raiden, reading the caption under a photo of the baby perched on a large, black dog, its pink tongue lolling out happily. He started as the picture moved and the dog transformed into a longhaired man.

“Raiden!” a loud voice yelled. “There’s a massive black motorbike heading in and some police cars round the corner!” Raiden snapped the book shut and double jumped over the wreckage.

By the time Hagrid got there, Raiden, Sapphire and Harry were gone.

------

Year 2362

Harry tossed the empty Dual Enforcers to the ground and switched to his deep red Necris swords. He spun them experimentally and hurriedly dodged a second rocket from his opponent. He ran swiftly to a large wall, and pushed off powerfully, twisting his slender form to dodge the ricocheting saw blade threatening to take his head off.

Turning his body to the right, he spun his swords behind him rapidly, seeming to freeze in midair as the swords blurred. He locked on to his opponent, and tore through the air, plunging and slicing with his swords until she exploded in a cloud of flesh chunks and blood.

Harry laughed as his eyepiece displayed ‘Harry sliced Sapphire into ribbons’.

“You bleed better than you shoot!” yelled Harry gleefully, spotting Sapphire re-spawn at the top of a lift.

“Rampage!” A deep voice echoed through the practise room, quickly followed by “You have won the match!”

Harry grinned triumphantly, and bounded out of the arena before Sapphire could get her revenge.

“Raiden!” he shouted, spotting his guardian of fourteen years approaching. “Raiden, I beat Sapphire with the Necris swords you got me! That means I can enter the Tournament and – what is it?” he asked suspiciously, noticing his less than happy expression.

“They’ve found you,” the Elder God told him unhappily. Harry’s jaw dropped.

“How?” asked Sapphire suddenly, holding out her hands for her Cryo Swords. “Where are they?”

Raiden smiled sadly.

“They got a visual of us taking Harry from a passer-by and they’ve been tracking us for fourteen years. Today while I was in 1995 picking up Malcolm – you know how he likes those old cinemas – I was followed. They want him back,”

Sapphire growled angrily.

“I’ll take care of them,” she muttered, swinging her swords expertly.

“I’m not going back,” said Harry firmly. “I finally got in the Tournament – I’m staying here.”

“Yes!” smiled Sapphire, forgetting her swords momentarily. “The youngest person to get in the Tournament! We’ll have to pick you a name and some Tournament clothes – no use in looking normal while dealing out some serious fragpies, eh?”

“You look normal,” argued Harry, gesturing at her simple blue skirt, white top and black boots.

“Ah, but that’s my evil strategy,” replied Sapphire. “Let them underestimate me, and let them pay for it. Now, about these people…” She waved one of her electric blue Cryo Swords at Raiden threateningly.

“I think Harry should meet the mortals,” said Raiden seriously. Sapphire blinked. “They have been searching for him his whole life – we cannot just whisk him away again,”

“Why not?” asked Harry.

“No,” Sapphire growled.

“You will meet them,” stated Raiden stubbornly. “Or I will take you out of the Tournament,”

“Let them see him in a deathmatch and see if they want him then,” muttered Sapphire evilly.

Raiden got his omnipotent I-Am-God look about him.

“They will agree to my conditions,” he assured them decisively. “Sapphire, take him for his clothes. I will deal with the humans,”

Sapphire laughed, and led Harry away by the arm.

“Don’t let me down, Raiden,” she called as she leapt on a jellylike motorbike.

Raiden tipped his hat back to reveal his brightly glowing white eyes.

“I won’t,”

Harry waved cheerfully, not particularly worried. The humans weren’t his family – his blood family were dead. Raiden and Sapphire had found him and raised him; they were his family and had been for fourteen years.

However, a small part of his mind wondered why they had looked for him for all this time, why hadn’t they just given up? Was he…special to them?

Psssh.

He was jerked out of his thoughts by Sapphire revving up her transparent bike, and gesturing at him to jump on. He obliged quickly, and buried his face into her back contentedly.

He was happy here – he had Sapphire, and Raiden – and he was the youngest Tournament contestant ever. He didn’t need some pesky humans taking it all away from him.

------

“Ooh, you look positively deadly!” squealed Sapphire happily.

“Look at all the leather!” squeaked the pretty shop assistant appreciatively.

“It’s protective,” Sapphire told her icily. Harry looked at himself in the long mirror and shivered gleefully. He did look rather dangerous, he thought.

His slender hands and arms up to his elbows were encased in black leather gloves, silver buckles gleaming coldly amidst the black. He wore a black leather sleeveless top with a long black waistcoat buckled loosely over it. Knee length tough boots enclosed his legs over the black leather trousers. Harry was intensely fond of these boots – they were comfortable, and black with three silver buckles up each side twinkling coldly in the light. His legs and torso underneath the long waistcoat had silvery metal bands around them, about a foot apart.

With his extremely pale white skin, jet hair, and dark clothes, he looked menacing and wraithlike. The only colour was his almost impossibly bright green eyes, which glittered with a slightly insane light.

“There’s something missing…” the previously gob smacked assistant proclaimed suddenly.

“Yes,” agreed Sapphire reluctantly. “He still looks a little too innocent – no tattoos, no disgusting scars…No one will take him seriously.”

Harry raised his eyebrow and flexed his wiry muscles with a glare.

Sapphire and the assistant giggled, and exchanged a look. Harry backed away slowly. He remembered last time Sapphire did that with a shop assistant – it was painful for everyone.

They pounced. Harry really wished he had his Dark Staff or his Shock Rifle on him as he went down on the floor and was bodily dragged off to a different part of the store. Legs and arms flailing wildly, he only managed to connect with anything a few times. Evidently, the shop assistant was used to these kind of things.

He struggled viciously, and was slapped upside the head for his efforts.

“Now Harry, it’s all for your own good…” Harry shook his head rapidly, hair flying wildly.

“Don’t make me hurt you,” he said quickly, swinging a fist at the shop assistant. Sapphire caught it and shook her finger at him. She ducked his other fist, and sat on his legs.

“It’s the best thing for you, Harry…” she reasoned calmly.

“Nope, not going to do it,” he stated resolutely.

“You don’t even know what –“ Harry glared evilly, and flung her off his legs.

Terror filled his heart as Sapphire uttered the dreaded words.

“Get him!”

------

Harry was Not Happy.

It was bad enough that his Tournament uniform was all leather – sure, he looked dead sexy and scary, but really! It had better not chafe…

He been kidnapped, bashed on the head and dragged to a tattoo parlour where his upper arms were tattooed to ‘complete’ his look – then as if that wasn’t enough, Sapphire had knocked out the artist in her excitement, and decided that she was going to use his body as a pincushion.

As a result, his left eyebrow, lower lip, nose and ears were dangling with thin silver hoops – and his arms and back were on fire from being stabbed with needles all day.

He was in pain!

Harry glared poisonously at a random passer-by and was immeasurably pleased when she ran across the street screaming. Sure, she was only six, but he was furious. And that made it perfectly all right.

He looked at his inflamed arm and scowled evilly at an old man waiting for a taxi. The man clutched his heart and choked.

Yes, the pain would go away soon enough – he had magic, did he not? And the health packets he and Sapphire regularly stole from Liandri would heal everything perfectly in an instant, but…gah!

Harry grinned menacingly, and whipped a set of keys from his boot quickly, pressing the button firmly. A motorbike made of what looked like pink jelly with stands of bright purple and blue twisting through it appeared silently. Harry took the bike without waiting for Sapphire, and raced down the motorway, swerving expertly and steering the Jelly bike off the road and through an empty field or two where he was free to seethe without any pesky lorries to pulverise distracting him.

How dare she! Raiden was going to be pissed decided Harry gleefully. She’d been thoroughly beaten that time she tried to file his teeth so he’d look vampiric. Oh wait, scratch the ‘tried’. She’d succeeded by the time Raiden found out.

Harry ran his tongue over his sharp teeth and growled angrily at the memory. Didn’t she have a body of her own to vandalise?

He pulled up the handlebars of the Jellyfish and launched the bike over a fence and into a shallow stream. He swung the bike sideways and followed it to a small bridge next to a large cliff. Harry pulled the bike under the dark bridge and located a large alcove hidden in the darkness. He dragged the bike in and sat in the cool water grumpily. He crossed his legs, and closed his eyes. The water reached his neck, and effectively soothed his stinging body.

He unfolded his long legs and let them float upwards. He hung there for hours in a calm trance until a faint splash alerted him to an intruder. He shut his eyes as a golden light lit up the cave, and ignored the newcomer, sensing it was Sapphire and partly hoping she thought he was dead. That’d show her.

Small hands slipped under his arms and pulled him to dry land. They stroked his lightning bolt scar gently, and brushed his long hair from his face. He opened his eyes, and Sapphire was momentarily startled by the vividness of his eyes. Harry grinned inwardly – this happened every time he opened his eyes, and he celebrated in her shock.

“Are you angry?” she asked softly. Harry smiled up at her.

“I was,” he said quietly. “Now I’m just happy you left my private parts unscathed.”

Sapphire chuckled guiltily.

“Sorry,” she said after a few moments of contented silence.

“That’s OK,” replied Harry, fixing his eyes on a fish under the water. “I do look rather evil and menacing now – the humans will be shocked.”

Harry and Sapphire didn’t count themselves as human – they had pushed themselves beyond that.

“Let me tell you a story,” whispered Sapphire. “About how we found you.” Harry closed his eyes and nodded. He already knew this story off by heart, but he never got tired of it.

“It was Halloween, and the Nightmares had decided it was high time for a little mortal terrifying,”

Harry smirked. The Nightmares were humanoid creatures that derived such pleasure from the pain of their enemies that they secreted a regenerative drug into their bloodstreams. The more they killed, the harder they were to defeat.

“We defeated them after a terrific fight, and when we were going back to the Time Complex, I heard a baby crying in the burning wreckage…”

------

Harry drove the Jelly bike back to Liandri HQ, and found Raiden sprawled across the couch wearing a very self-satisfied look like the cat that got the cream.

“Hey Raiden,” greeted Harry, heading straight to the fridge for some glorious food. He tore into a chicken hungrily and barely acknowledged Raiden’s welcome.

“Nice outfit,” grunted Raiden. “Sapphire got her hands on you?”

Harry chuckled evilly.

“Yes, and I will have my revenge,” he replied, chugging an entire litre of apple juice.

“She’s done good work. You should take a look before the Liandri officials drop by to get your info.”

Harry crumpled the carton easily and tossed it into the bin.

“I’m going to my room,” muttered Harry.

“Did you sort out his alias?” he heard Sapphire quietly ask as he somersaulted up a tree and through his open window.

“The rules have changed, now he must choose it himself.” Raiden’s voice drifted out of the window. Harry did a silent victory dance, as he was sure Raiden would have named him after some old fogey God nobody cared about anymore.

He placed his hand on the palm recognition unit that guarded his weapons. A deep purple light scanned his hand and opened the compartment with a soft whoosh. Harry pulled out his deep red Necris swords, his Dark Staff, and his Molten Kamas first.

His swords and staff were coated with Necris nanoblack, which cause even the slightest wound to blister and fester horribly – with no cure except death. The swords were long, and slightly curved with a small fork at the very tip of them. The staff was basically a long, black pole with an oval at the end which hid devastatingly sharp edges. His Motlen Kamas were orange blades of focused plasma energy. Each was as deadly as the other, and equally as painful to be beaten with.

However, Harry could only take one of these into the Tournament. After a moment’s consideration, he chose his Necris Swords – double-sword style was allowed, and he really liked these swords anyway.

Shielding his eyes, he plunged the swords into some cold water. It hissed and steamed angrily, and the water turned the same colour as the swords.

Harry pulled the out and laid them on a towel. They gleamed wickedly at him.

“Mirrors,” said Harry clearly. Three long mirrors melted from the wall and reformed in front of him, this time longer and cleaner. Harry tended to tally his frags in the blood of his enemy.

He struggled for a good five minutes with his sleeveless top before remembering to unbuckle it. Flinging it haphazardly onto the bed, he inspected his new, unwillingly inflicted tattoos.

He growled angrily. Raiden was right; Sapphire had done good work.

On his right arm, she had inscribed ‘Only Death Will Save You’ with black flames framing it and spreading around the rest of his upper arm and disappearing a little way into his gloves. His other arm had the black sun normally associated with Necris. Necris was a process used to resurrect dead Tournament competitors. This process – Brock after he was killed trying to avenge Malcolm’s brutal spine snapping, and Lauren after she took her life because of Brock’s death, had resurrected two popular competitors.

Harry owned two Necris swords and a Dark Staff that Raiden had gotten for him through questionable means. Not that Harry cared about rules.

The black sun had squiggly rays emitting from its pitch centre and was framed by two black bands on his biceps. After a closer examination, Harry discovered that the bands were little mini suns.

Harry grinned a little sheepishly. The tattoos on his arms weren’t that bad… He commanded the mirrors to rearrange themselves so he could see his back.

The statement ‘Only Death Will Save You’ was repeated in gothic letters across his shoulders and back. Depicted underneath was a pair of crossed, blood red Necris Swords being struck by bright lightning. The colouring was amazing, noted Harry. It almost looked real.

Harry wondered where Sapphire had learned how to do that, and that on second thought decided he didn’t want to know. There was a light knock at the door, and Harry quickly slipped on his top and waistcoat, buckling them as he answered the door.

It was Raiden, telling him that Liandri were here and to take his swords – just in case. Harry grinned, and spun his swords expertly. He put them in his other space pockets (standard Tournament equipment), and imagined himself messily gouging out the Liandri official’s innards out.

He smirked wickedly, and his eyes glittered in bloodlust. Perfect.

------

“It’s here!” yelled Sapphire excitedly, brandishing a glossy booklet. “Listen: Liandri is proud to present the new Tournament competitors…blah blah blah… Ah!” She slotted the booklet into a slit in the wall, and squealed excitedly when Harry’s picture and some writing appeared on the wall.

His black clothes, hair and tattoos contrasted perfectly with his pale skin and silver piercings. The buckles on his clothes gleamed coldly, and his glowing green eyes held a glint of insanity. The picture Harry smiled wickedly, showing his nastily sharp teeth.

“Oh you look so lethal!” squealed Sapphire. Harry shook away the feeling of déjà vu and his beam quickly, refusing to show emotion. Raiden grunted his approval, and hid a proud smile. Harry gave them a lopsided grin and read his profile.

Alias: Spectre

Name: Harry Potter

Age: 15

Race: Human

Preferred Melee: Necris Swords

Preferred Explosive: Flak Cannon

Preferred Energy: Shock Rifle

Adrenaline Abilities: Vampire, Ethereal, Teleport, Flash, Nimble, Speed

Summary: Some say that he harnesses the power of ghosts; some say Liandri tried to resurrect him via the Necris process while he was still alive. Either way, he moves like a wraith, bullets hardly seem to affect him, and he’s damn scary.

The Necris process was a ‘top-secret’ process developed by Phayder assassins. In a horrifically painful and expensive process, a person could be brought back to life, no matter how mangled the body. Not everybody escaped the process with memories intact, and few escaped with their sanity. Everyone who had undergone the Necris process emerged changed – and not always for the better. Even those who were relatively the same as when they were alive eventually developed a wild, brutal kind of dementia due to the agony of whatever happened in the process continuing through the rest of their half-life.

Most of them were better off dead.

Sapphire was almost splitting her face in half from the grinning she was doing. Raiden’s face threatened to break into a large smile, so he busied himself with the screen on the wall.

“First match tomorrow,” said Raiden, finally trusting himself to speak. “Two on you deathmatch against me and Sapphire. Special match, because we’re your guardians. Test your mettle, boy,”

“You and Sapphire? As in you AND Sapphire at the same time?”

“Sorry hun,” Sapphire said wistfully. “But we can’t go easy on you –“

“I don’t expect you to,” cut in Harry sharply. “After all, I do believe that I kicked your ass in the qualifying final. I can handle myself.” He stood up quickly and moved silently out of the door.

He was Not Happy. Again.

It wasn’t that Liandri expected him to repeatedly kill his guardians – no; he could do that a thousand times over. Hell, he’d been doing it since he could walk. Harry doubted he’d feel any remorse in killing them outside the arena. Sure, they were his family, but Harry had been brought up learning how to separate himself from all his emotions in battle except pleasure in killing, and satisfaction. He could get out his swords in an instant and slice them into luncheon meat.

When he was eleven his scar had started to burn at night and bring visions of torture, death and destruction. Harry had revelled in it. After four years of blood and gore day and night, only shreds of sanity remained. Harry had quickly learned that blocking his emotions allowed him to keep a clear head although he loved the bloody contentment of battle rage.

He would defeat Raiden, his and Sapphire’s mentor, and Sapphire, his surrogate sister/mother.

And he’d enjoy it.

------

Harry left for the arena before Sapphire and Raiden woke up. He headed straight into his locker room, and emptied his guns of ammo. Tournament rules were that you were only allowed ammo for your starter weapons – ammo for an explosive or energy weapon had to be picked up in the arena. He placed his empty weapons in the correct other space pockets, and switched on the pre game show. He watched the drone talk about previous Tournament winners for a while (especially Malcolm, who in the finals of the last Tournament had had his spine brutally snapped by Gorge, the last Tournament winner), and then ignored it completely in favour of adjusting his bands and buckles.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door and Malcolm, the most famous Tournament player and nine-times champion walked in.

Harry nodded politely and fiddled with his boot.

“Hey kid,” said Malcolm, sitting on the bench next to him. “I saw your picture and just had to come and see you for myself.”

Harry looked up and grinned maliciously, hoping to scare him off before he lost it and stabbed him. Malcolm chuckled.

“They were right, you are damn scary.”

“How’s your spine?” asked Harry, suddenly insanely cheerful and feeling nasty.

Malcolm laughed gruffly and smacked him on the back friendlily. Right on the part that had been mauled with needles.

Harry growled deep in his throat and stuck his hand out for his Necris swords. They immediately materialised in his hands and a surprised Malcolm barely ducked a swing at his head.

“Come on, you’ve gotta try harder than that if you want to hit me,” said Malcolm, regaining his composure.

“I wasn’t trying,” Harry informed him coldly.

“Hey kid, want to come for an interview on the pre game show?” asked Malcolm suddenly.

Harry considered it.

“Only if you stop calling me kid,” he replied, standing up and cracking his back.

“You are a kid,” said Malcolm, unsurprised by Harry’s request.

“No. They took that away a long time ago,” Harry doubted he’d ever had it in the first place.

Malcolm didn’t answer; he just took Harry by the wrist and led him to a new room. The door opened, and Harry saw the drone on the pre game show tell the camera that Malcolm had appeared with a new mystery guest.

Harry allowed himself to be lead to a seat and he arranged himself as menacingly as possible.

“Hey y’all, it’s a great morning here at Liandri,” said Malcolm with a smile. “And it’s about to get better – I have here Spectre, the youngest competitor ever in the Tournament and he’s lookin’ good. It’s your first match today, against your two guardians – how are you feeling?” Malcolm turned to Harry expectantly.

“Insane,” said Harry wickedly. Malcolm started in slight shock – it was unexpected to say the least.

“Are you insane, Spectre?” asked Malcolm curiously?

“Perfectly.” Harry showed all of his sharp teeth. He hoped the humans were watching.

“Do you mind answering some questions from the audience, Spectre?” asked the drone in an incredibly annoying robotic voice.

Harry glared at it.

“Alrighty then, first question,” said Malcolm. “Is there any truth to the rumour that Liandri tried to bring you back to life using the Necris process when you weren’t actually dead?”

“I am not at liberty to answer that question,” answered Harry, a mad grin adorning his pale face. It wasn’t true, actually, but Harry was in a funny mood. Let ‘em wonder.

“Are you a vampire?” asked the drone nasally. Harry glared at it again. The voice was so aggravating.

“If you mean do I have a slight obsession with blood, am I pale, do I like the dark, hate bulbic herbs and do I have sharp teeth then the answer is yes,” said Harry. He refused to answer any question directly. He liked to be awkward.

“Are you a Nightmare?” asked the drone in the grating voice.

“Your worst one and I swear if I hear that drone’s voice again I’m going to smash it to pieces,” retorted Harry touchily.

Malcolm laughed heartily, but got out his Cryo staff, just in case.

“Next question please,” the robot intoned. Harry snarled menacingly, and his swords materialised in his hands. Malcolm leapt up immediately, but by the time his Cryo staff had gotten to Harry’s seat, he was gone.

Harry hacked into the drone’s head, and man it felt good!

“Hey kid, where’d you go?” yelled Malcolm, looking around the room. He spotted the demolished drone and bounded towards it, but Harry was already closing the door.

“Damn,” said Malcolm in shock. “That kid’s like a spectre!“ He started to chuckle heartily, and stomped out of the door. “This I gotta see…”

------

Harry adjusted his long gloves, wiggled his fingers experimentally, then trimmed the edges of the fingerless part carefully. He put the bits of material in his locker with his flak shells and energy ammo and got out his Necris swords happily.

He was in the Tournament, the youngest person ever to get in! He was in his first match, and if he won he’d be that much closer to winning the Championship. Harry shivered in delight, and thought about the squelch of his swords as they ripped through soft flesh, springy muscles and hard bone. He thought about the coppery taste of the spraying blood, and the misty clouds of red. He thought about the thuds of flesh hitting the ground, and the dark stains on walls, floors and ceilings. He thought about the metallic tang of blood his nose could sniff out effortlessly, and beamed. A slow, wicked grin that showed off his abnormally sharp teeth and told of death and destruction. A nastily frightening smile that any Nightmare would be proud of. A lopsided evil smirk that sent small children running to their mothers – hell, it sent them running for their parents. It was the one he wore every day.

------

Two green, spherical cameras flew up to Harry and circled him once before retreating to a respectable distance. Harry widened his grin.

He twirled his swords experimentally for the cameras, and did a few fancy moves before shaking out his arms and stepping into the arena. He slipped on his eyepiece and inserted the tiny speaker into his ear gently.

“Five, four…” counted the deep voice standard in any arena. “Three, two…” Harry spotted some explosive ammo nearby and made a mental note. “One, begin!”

Harry immediately double jumped and was pleasantly surprised when the green boosters on the bottom of his boots kicked in and let him jump in midair once more.

He flipped over in flight and spotted Raiden running up behind him. He pushed off the grey metal wall, and dashed towards him, swords twirling. He spun one across Raiden’s chest, thrust the other one into his skull and pushed off the ground, doing a walkover while dragging the bloody sword through the skull.

The nanoblack did its job and Raiden exploded in a cloud of flesh and blood without getting in a shot. Harry grinned ferally and launched himself at the explosive ammo. He picked it up, switching the swords to his flask cannon and loading up rapidly. He ran silently to the ramp, and collected health vials as he passed them. He spotted a jump pad and used it, landing catlike on a platform.

He picked up a crystal of energy for his Shock Rifle and spotted Sapphire leap quickly off the platform. Harry followed swiftly, and fired the flak cannon at her falling body. He fired again, landed, and gave chase.

Sapphire turned around, and shot at him with her Ripjack. Harry dodged the saw blade easily and switched to his shock rifle in mid air. He aimed and fired rapidly. She exploded immediately.

“Head Shot!” announced the deep voice.

“Is that your best?” yelled Harry loudly. The microphone in his eyepiece picked it up and sent it through the hidden speakers. Harry grinned. His voice seemed like it was coming from everywhere.

28 frags remain, his eyepiece reminded him. A death message popped up – ‘Sapphire gave Raiden a shiny new hole’. Harry laughed, and picked up a health vial.

Suddenly, he fell forwards as he was sliced across the back with a Thunder Staff. He jumped and spun round, freezing in midair as he spun his swords. He hurtled towards Raiden, pushing him back and killing him.

“Eat THAT!” announced Harry gleefully.

All of a sudden, a rocket exploded at his feet. He was thrown back, and he scanned the area for the shooter. Another rocket landed next to him and almost tore him open. One more would kill him, so he kept moving and looked up. Raiden was taking aim; he fired just as Sapphire cut into him with her Cryo swords. Glad, for the distraction, Harry located the jump pad and flipped over the fighting pair. He thankfully landed on some health, so he picked it up before joining the fight.

He jumped to do his Twizzler (he had named it in a brief insane moment), but, unfortunately, a rocket from a triumphant Raiden blew him up. Darn.

Harry felt the speeding rush of death and the uncomfortable sensation of his body disintegrating. He sped faster, and the blackness burst into colour as his body respawned.

Harry bared his teeth menacingly. He spotted Sapphire encased in shining white body armour (“Iron Spirit!” announced the voice) and his eyepiece locked onto her immediately. He double jumped and executed both the Twizzler and Sapphire.

He stuck out his tongue as if it was raining (and it was, just not water) and tasted the coppery blood. His adrenaline raced.

Harry activated his adrenaline ability of Vampire and shivered at the cold running through him. He quad-jumped to a small ledge, and stabbed Raiden in the back. He twisted it cruelly and felt life rush into him. Raiden’s hands glowed white, and he slammed his fist into Harry’s stomach. Winded and vulnerable, Harry activated Flash, pleased when Raiden fell over with a thud. He swung his swords together and took off his head.

Suddenly, a blue sword with a side order of intense pain appeared in his bruised stomach. Icy frost slowly cooled his blood, and he struggled to move. Sapphire drew out the sword, and leapt into the air, swords spinning in her palms… Harry rolled to avoid the Twizzler and cut Sapphire’s legs off. She exploded in a haze of red.

“You fight like a girl!” said Harry loudly, knowing it would infuriate both Raiden and Sapphire.

“Double kill!” echoed the voice.

Harry staggered over to the glowing green cross that indicated a health packet and collected it hurriedly. Life flowed back into him. Thank God for modern medicine, thought Harry.

24 frags left, the eyepiece flashed. The messages ‘Raiden electrocuted Sapphire’ and ‘Raiden pounced on Sapphire’ flashed across the eyepiece in quick succession.

‘Double kill!” the voice repeated. Harry jumped off the platform and double jumped over Sapphire and thrust both swords into her chest. He yanked them out, and winced as an icy sword clipped his ear. Harry switched to flak cannon and laughed manically at the red explosion.

Picking up energy shells and happily loading them into his shock rifle, Harry wasn’t ready for the red hot Tarydium crystals peppering his body. Convulsing wildly, he managed to activate Flash again, followed by Ethereal. An exact duplicate of himself stepped out of his body, and they both faded into near nothingness. Raiden shook his head confusedly. Harry used this to his advantage and hurled himself at him, swords spinning like a Twister board.

Raiden never stood a chance.

“See ya!” said Harry merrily, keeping a sharp eye out for Sapphire.

He jumped and twirled all the way to the next health pack. And the next.

Suddenly, he heard the distinctive click of Dual Enforcers being reloaded. He spun round, swords flying. Sapphire fired her Enforcers. Harry leapt into the air, twisting and spinning to dodge the bullets. They followed him.

“Homing,” yelled Sapphire gleefully. Harry smirked, and activated Vampire. He glowed red immediately and launched himself as Sapphire. Unfortunately, he was still being shot at with bullets that followed him.

I walked right into this one, thought Harry miserably as the painful sensation of having his body ripped apart wracked him. He whooshed to his new body, and decided that Sapphire was going to be the victim of such style and skill she was going to die with awe in her eyes.

“Life is pain, get over it!” Sapphire’s voice echoed around the arena.

“Search and destroy!” yelled Harry right back. He wondered what Raiden was up to. He didn’t like to mock people, so Harry never knew what he was feeling.

Harry jogged to some explosive ammo and loaded it absently into his flak cannon. Close up flak shots were extremely satisfying – hot metal fragments ripping through the flesh and smashing through bone, the squelch of organs and sprays of blood…

His eyes lit up, and he hunted for Sapphire with a new fervour. Spotting Raiden reloading his rocket launcher, Harry switched to shock rifle and shot him through the head, grinning insanely as bits of skull and brain splattered around him.

“Next!” called Harry, hoping to rile Raiden – he wasn’t paying the match the proper amount of attention and Harry was Not Happy about that.

“Head Shot!” echoed around the arena gleefully.

Holding his hands out vaguely for his Necris swords, Harry amused himself by Teleporting on top of Raiden (‘Spectre telefragged Raiden’) to get closer to a rapidly fleeing Sapphire.

A quick “And stay down!” after Raiden and a rude gesture to the hovering camera, then Harry flipped after Sapphire, exchanging his swords to flak cannon in midair.

He shot a flak grenade at her; it exploded spectacularly and ripped through her swiftly. However, she carried on running, activating her Iron Spirit ability and sprinting to the nearest health pack.

Harry growled in frustration. He initiated Speed, and dashed after her. His natural wraithlike speed combined with the adrenaline ability made him skid past her before he managed to twist round and empty his flak cannon on her.

Snarling viciously when she staggered, she glowed green and slashed at him with her Cryo Swords, Harry discarded his empty gun and spun his swords. Sapphire slashed at him with both icy swords; Harry dodged and twirled with swords stretched out. He hacked brutally at her slim form, his smirk widening as her blood splashed over his face and into his mouth.

A large Staff slammed into his side, and he turned around to find Raiden spinning his Staff like a baton girl. Harry crossed his swords and barely blocked the next blow. Holding off his Staff with one sword, Harry chopped ferociously at Raiden’s muscled torso, denting and cutting into his armour. Raiden brought back his Staff like a spear and drove it into Harry viciously. Harry retched violently and bared his bloodstained teeth as he swung his swords into Raiden’s neck. He burst into chunks of tissue and bone, and Harry coughed up some swallowed blood, clutching his stomach.

“Boom!” he choked, and Teleported thankfully near some health packets and almost died with relief as the life flowed into him. At least Raiden was finally into the game; he congratulated himself heartily.

He whirled his swords absently and took off from the platform. His eyepiece locked onto Sapphire and Raiden fighting in the middle of the arena. He Twizzled over and stole Sapphire’s kill with an evil grin. Their swords clanged with a judder, and they slashed at each other cruelly through the cloud of red. Suddenly, Harry swapped to shock rifle, and sent an unstable ball of lightning hurtling towards Sapphire – which she dodged, only to jump into a second one. She glowed green, and Harry cursed her Heal ability. He fired a lightning ball, which she dodged, but he rapidly fired a laser into the core of the ball. He back-pedalled hurriedly, grinning maliciously as the ball exploded in swirls of blue and purple. The dust cleared, and Harry stared with shock.

Sapphire, clad in shining white armour hurtled at him viciously. He crossed his swords, forming a shield, and rolled while switching to flak cannon. Sapphire jumped up and whirled her swords building up her Twizzler. Harry stepped up to her, and fired the flak cannon in her face.

“Right between the eyes!” Harry hollered gleefully. 17 frags left, said the little voice in his ear.

“Flak Monkey!” the deep voice boomed excitedly. Harry did a little victory dance and collected some explosive ammo happily. This was home.

------

Breathing heavily and twisting expertly in midair, Harry reflected the rocket with his swords and blew up Raiden with a loud BOOM.

“One kill remains…” the deep voice declared.

“MY House!” proclaimed Harry, spinning his swords in his hands and launching himself at Sapphire. One of her Cyro Swords plunged into his shoulder and the ice spread rapidly. Before he could wrench the sword out and frag Sapphire, he was suddenly encased in a block of ice. He stared out at the distorted image of Sapphire swinging her sword in slow motion towards him. Not ready to give up so easily (he was only trapped in a massive block of ice), he activated his Wraith ability and was barely affected by the sword as it shattered the ice for him. He jumped over Sapphire as soon as he was free, ran up the wall and pushed off, swords flying like two shiny spinny things.

They ripped into her mercilessly, thick, dark blood spraying in Harry’s face and running down his hands.

“ Ownage!” yelled Harry in glee.

“Spectre has won the match!” the voice announced happily. Harry grinned madly, and bounded to the arena doors. Raiden and Sapphire followed more slowly.

The score appeared on his eyepiece, and he glanced at it briefly before knocking on the door.

Scores

Name: Spectre Frags: 30 Deaths: 4

Name: Sapphire Frags: 14 Deaths: 29

Name: Raiden Frags: 15 Deaths: 24

He slipped through the arena doors as soon as they started to slide open. He snatched the health pack from a hovering assistant and immediately felt even more incredible than usual.

A medi-drone rolled up to him wielding a wet cloth and a bucket of water. Harry smashed it to pieces. He liked the blood on his face, in his hair, on his hands… It proved that he was amazingly skilled and plus, Harry just liked blood.

“Nice one kid,” came an approving voice. Harry grinned wider and wiggled his fingers at the approaching Malcolm. Harry licked a bit of blood off his fingers and glared evilly at another medi-drone coming his way. It changed its mind and rolled away quickly.

“Yeah, good one Harry!” called Sapphire from where she was eavesdropping.

Raiden appeared next to him silently.

“Yes, well done child. We have trained you well,” he announced, mouth twitching. “I will go and inform the humans.” He clapped Harry on the back proudly, and disappeared down the gleaming corridor.

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During the match…

“Look at him,” said a thin, greying man, his voice breaking. “He’s a…killing machine! Look at how he’s got this insane grin every time he rips his guardians into shreds! He’s an insane psycho killer!”

A longhaired, dark man slung his arm comfortingly around his friend’s shoulders.

“James’s son…insane…” The dark-haired man didn’t seem to be able to construct a sentence.

“This may be exactly what we need,” said an old man with long silver hair and beard thoughtfully.

“We’ll get him back,” said the longhaired man comfortingly, glaring at the old man fiercely.

“I hope so…”

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