Chapter Twenty-Five
Confronting the Faceless 💀 CompleteJanuary 26 - February 9, 1998
"Power gives us the right to rule"
Zara had thought she was in the clear. Sure she has to report to Yurina, and technically Theodore Yaxley is her "co-leader", but both of them are supposed to be doing their own things, which should lead to Zara being in charge. And from there she was going to show Yaxley (older Yaxley) how effectively she was running things on her own, and prove to him that she should be fully and formally put in charge of the entire Unit.
Instead, mere weeks after saying he'd let her do her own thing, her infuriating co-leader had gone back on his word and decided to actually "help" her. And his version of help is absolutely ruining all of Zara's plans, both to take over and to fix the Unit.
At first he'd started actively training her Snatchers, but in non-lethal takedowns. Zara had confronted him about it in the middle of one of his training session and thrown out that he'd never been in the field and had no idea what they were up against.
"These Fugitives," She'd told him angrily as their troops looked on nervously, "Are desperate, feral outlaws more than willing to kill us to run from their crimes. Marcus," She waved at one of the men standing nearby, who flinched away from the gesture, "Was stabbed with a Muggle weapon. They're willing to sink to any level, and here you are telling my brave volunteers not to use every available method to defend themselves?"
"I'm merely saying that these people are to be brough to trial - they're half-dead of starvation by now Zara, our troops are more than a match for them I'm sure."
That was when Zara had made her biggest mistake (the whole fight being public had been another - her mother had thoroughly deconstructed her entire day when she came home that evening and informed Zara that she'd brought everything onto herself. Which wasn't what Zara had wanted to hear).
"You've never been out there, so you have no idea what you're talking about." It had been said dismissively, intended to be the killing blow and send him back to flirting at his desk and letting Zara prove her worth.
Instead he'd decided to start going with her out into the Forest. Which is ten times worse than him training the troops back in the Ministry, as she's very quickly learned.
The final week of January sees him tagging along on a solo mission she'd been planning for a month to one of the uncharted areas of the Forest. She'd intended to scout it out and assign one of their new teams to the section, and maybe take down a few Mudbloods if she came across them (she needs some stress relief), but at the last possible second Theo had popped over to her desk and invited himself along.
Zara had tried to insist she would do better on her own, but he'd name dropped his uncle and she'd been forced to comply. Unfortunately, Corban Yaxley could take this job from her at any moment, so she has to bend to his whims. For now.
One day she's going to be his boss, and she's going to make the elder Yaxley and Yurina clean the loos every single day. It's where lazy idiots like them should be. But for now she has to let them think she's dancing to their tune.
By actually doing that, but she prefers to ignore the details when they're liable to piss her off.
"Fine, get your robes on." She grumbles, and Theo beams obnoxiously at her before trotting off. She can practically see a tail swishing mockingly behind him. He's obviously doing all of this just to irritate her.
He takes ten minutes to get back - ten minutes, might she add, that she could have been dividing new scouting sections in - and he's carrying a bag.
She glares at it. "What is that supposed to be?" She asks dryly.
He raises an eyebrow imperiously. "Always take note of stakeout spots, that's day two of Hit Wizard Training. I'm going to draw a map of each section so I can specialize the training for the groups assigned to them."
Zara just glares at him. How dare he have a good idea? Though considering a lot of the other "information" he's collected in the past few weeks has been utterly bogus she's sure he'll manage to screw this up as well.
And that, she thinks as she apparates herself to the Forest, is an entirely other situation that is only further screwing with her image. There have been multiple points when Theo has offered up supposedly legit info on Fugitive locations or resistance camps that have turned up absolutely nothing. Theo has seemed frustrated by the continual failures, even coordinating a few strikes personally and leading one of the more recent ones (which had actually resulted in a fight, though not with who they were expecting - in fact, no one had even seen who had attacked the scouting party, but even Zara can admit they must have been good considering the number of Deatheaters still recovering in Mungo's). But Zara isn't buying his act. Theodore Yaxley is out to ruin her reputation before she's even had a chance to build it and she isn't having it. She just needs to prove what he's doing.
Theo appears beside her a moment later, whistling cheerfully. "Well then, I'll go East you go West?"
"We don't split up." Zara snaps. If he's going to come along, she's going to make damn sure he doesn't screw everything up. This is important to her. "You don't even know what you're doing."
He makes and offended noise at that, and good, his entire existence offends Zara, let him suffer in some of his own medicine for once.
"I'm a fully trained Hit Wizard-"
"Who's never been on one of these types of scouting missions." Zara finishes flatly. "I have. You stay with me or you go home, those are your options. You're all about learning, right?" She can't help the sarcastic jab, and she thinks she's more than earned it anyway.
Theo scoffs but turns back towards her. "Alright then, lead the way." He bows mockingly and ugh why couldn't he have taken the other option?
Zara strides ahead of him with a huff, entering the new area confidently. "Don't fall behind." She snaps, pulling out her wand as she scans her surroundings for good Apparation and ambush points.
Theo is quiet for all of a minute before deciding it's been too long since he last made her want to hex him. "So what exactly are we doing? Since apparently I don't know what that is." His voice drips sarcasm and Zara grips her wand tightly.
His uncle will give control back to the Japanese wench if I kill him. She reminds herself firmly. She can handle a few more weeks of this. She can.
"Look for good areas to set up traps, and clearings to use for apparating in." She says tersely in response, and he snorts.
"So what we do when hunting down targets then? I thought you said this would be different."
She's going to kill him. As soon as she's able to without risking her own station she's going to kill him. And probably his stupid uncle too, for forcing her into this in the first place.
"Just. Do. It." She grits out as evenly as she can manage, and by some miracle he actually does. He hums as he does, so Zara can't completely ignore his presence the way she'd very much like to, but it's better than nothing at least.
They travel in that near-silence for a while as the sun dips lower over the tree-line, visible for long than it might normally be in this area due to the bare branches of the trees overhead.
"There really aren't any good ambush points around here." Theo declares with a whine, and Zara hates that she agrees. The entire area would be great come the spring, but in the current weather nothing could hide effectively here.
"Probably means no Mudbloods either." She grumbles. "And here I could use something to hex."
Theo doesn't say anything to that, which has Zara feeling rather smug. Clearly he does have some working brain functions if the subtle threat successfully shut his mouth.
They move in silence for a while longer before Theo speaks up again. "It's getting dark." He announces, like it's some grand discovery and not a statement of the obvious.
"No ." Zara grumbles. "Your point?"
He scoffs. "And this is why my uncle set me to babysit you. We won't be able to get anything done in the dark, it's too difficult to see and we're liable to hurt ourselves."
She rolls her eyes. "Please, you led a nighttime stake out don't lecture me on-"
"That was pre-planned and well formulated! This is wandering uncharted terrain blindly like a couple of idiots. You can go for it, but I'm heading back. I have no interest in learning if there really are coyotes out here."
Zara growls under her breath at the implied insult. "Fine. I'll finish tomorrow." She grumbles.
Zara growls under her breath at the implied insult. "Fine. I'll finish tomorrow." She grumbles.
Theo hums. "See you in the morning then!" He declares cheerfully, and Zara's groan is mixed with the sound of him apparating away. She stands in the empty forest for a few moments longer, glaring at the spot Theo had been before spinning on her heel and heading home herself.
She complains to her mother that evening over dinner while sneaking scraps of their chicken dinner to Princess under the table. Hui Ying just sighs.
"You cannot let him irritate you so obviously." She scolds. "It gives him power."
Zara scowls. It's not the first time her mother has told her that, and she knows it, but Theo just grates so intensely on her nerves it can be difficult to tolerate at times. She's vastly superior in intellect and capability, and yet she has to deal with a slacker nepotism case dragging her down. And with his connections to his uncle his failures are going to ultimately be blamed on her.
She knows all this, her mother has repeatedly told her and beyond that she just isn't an idiot despite what the Yaxleys want to believe. And still.
"You let your emotions cloud your judgement. You said to me that you mistrust his intentions, that he is purposefully giving poor information to damage your reputation." Her mother says firmly. "Trust your instincts - prove it. If you can show his uncle that Theodore is a liability then you will not only be given full leadership but also secure yourself as trustworthy and clever."
Zara bows her head slightly. "Yes mother." She sighs, leaning over to scratch Princess behind the ears when the tabby lightly headbuts her leg. Hui Ying glares at her pointedly.
"When do you see him next?" She asks, and Zara sighs again just thinking about it.
"Tomorrow, we didn't finishes scouting the new sector today since he invited himself along and threw off my entire schedule." She grumbles, glaring harder when her mother smiles.
"Good. You spend as much time with him as possible from this point forward." Her mother instructs firmly.
Zara sits up in her chair instantly. "What? Mum I can barely stand him now why would I-"
"If you are correct that he wishes to sabotage you, then being around him more will lead to him inevitably slipping up. Keep your enemies close Zara, you know this."
Zara grimaces. "Yes mother." She says again, more resigned this time.
Her mother smiles. "A small sacrifice today makes a great victory tomorrow. Now go sleep, you'll need to be your best tomorrow for Theodore."
Zara retreats to her room as ordered and sketches out a simple map of the area she and Theo had covered that afternoon before calling it a night and heading to join Princess in the bed. Her mother is right - she'll need all her wits about her tomorrow if she's going to start making "friends" with Theo.
She arrives at the office early the next morning, determined to get a few things in order and refocus herself on her goals, which ought to make dealing with Theo easier. Her problem, she thinks, was that she was too focused on what she could lose - she needs to remember what will be gained.
Theo arrives about thirty minutes after she does and looks a little wary when she gives him her sweetest smile, leaning forward to show off a bit and throw him further off kilter.
"You ready to go?" She asks brightly. "Or do you need some time to get things together? I figure as long as we're in the field by ten we should be able to finish everything."
Theo eyes her warily as he slowly shakes his head. "I've got everything." He says after a moment. "I'll meet you there?"
"Sounds good! See you in a second." She smiles again and apparates away, reappearing in the chosen clearing a few moments later. She smirks to herself when it takes Theo nearly a minute to follow - clearly he had to reorient himself. As always, her mother was correct. Zara will prove Theo is up to no good sooner than she'd hoped if just a couple of smiles is already throwing his game.
When he appears Zara cheerfully offers to let him lead this time - "You are a fully trained Hit-Wizard after all, you'd be much better equipped than me if we run into any rabid Fugitives" - and she trails just behind him, sizing him up thoughtfully and beaming every time he glances back at her. They walk mostly in silence, and Zara revels in it.
Squirm little bastard. She thinks as Theo once again looks over at her. Squirm knowing that I'll be unveiling your incompetence and taking what's rightfully mine soon.
Theo does finally speak when they find a good clearing to serve as an Apparation point for whatever team ends up assigned to the new sector.
"We should find another though." He adds as Zara takes note of the location on her map, "The area is too large for a single team to cover effectively." He sounds like he's trying to be mocking, but it comes out hesitant, like he's no longer sure how she'll react.
Good. "I agree." She says lightly, because she actually does and also because she likes seeing how uncomfortable the comment makes him. "How about this entry point is for everything we've covered in the past two days, and the rest will go to a different team?"
Theo tilts his head, apparently recovering from his unease in the face of actual work. "Should be alright, but let's make sure to double check both sections before solidifying that in the rotation, we wouldn't want to give anyone more or less work than anyone else."
Zara hums in acknowledgment before moving ahead to scout out the remaining area, reasserting herself as the leader of the expedition as she does. Throwing Theo off balance is all well and good, but she's still in charge.
As such this means she's in front when they actually do run into a Fugitive, who swears and fumbles for his wand.
Zara doesn't give him a chance, touching her own wand inside her robe and silently sending the boy flying into a nearby tree, his own wand clattering from his hand.
Zara raises her wand again, grinning manically - this will be a great way to siphon off her frustration from the past few months - when another spell whizzes centimeters from her ear and she hears Theo deflect it.
"." She hisses, leaping backwards and scanning the area. "He's got friends. You secure the kid, I'll get rid of them."
Theo frowns. "You secure him." He counters firmly. "I'm trained in-"
Another blast sends them both diving away from each other, and Zara fires off several return curses - a mix of Crucio and Avada Kedavra though she doesn't see if anything hits.
She can' see Theo anymore, and worse she can't see the kid she'd stunned either, which is particularly irritating as he shouldn't have been able to get back up.
"We need to fall back!" She hears Theo's voice say, but that; she's needed a good fight for a long time now and she's not losing this chance.
She throws up a protective shield as she darts between cover, dropping it as soon as she safely can and firing off multiple curses towards where she thinks the opponent is. A scream rewards her efforts, and she takes the opening and flies over to where a man is covering a gashed open face with one hand while trying to still grip his wand in the other.
"Hello, you caught me in a bad mood." She greets him pleasantly. "The name's Zara Wong. Just so you know who it was that brought you to justice."
The screams are gratifying, and the way they fade out into strangled chokes even more so. She feels ten times lighter already, and it's only been fifteen minutes. When the man's whimpering is no longer audible she flicks an idle killing curse over his slumped body and trots back into the clearing to find Theo. Standing alone.
"Where's the kid?" She demands. "What the Theo he was practically unconscious, how did you lose him?"
"There must have been another person with them." He says evasively, and now that she's closer Zara thinks he might look a bit ill.
Well. That's worth noting.
She doesn't respond and instead spins angrily on her heel and stalks off to finish the scouting mission.
"I'm reporting this." She tells him after a few minutes of silence. "That was sloppy."
He looks over at her disbelievingly. "I'm sorry, I was sloppy? That man screaming probably alerted every Fugitive in a ten kilometer radius that we're here. They're probably all clearing out and hiding elsewhere as we speak - completely counteracting the entire point of this endeavor, I might add."
Zara rolls her eyes. "If it bothered you so much you could have come over and ended it." She snipes back, and Theo has no response.
They finish the job in silence, and Theo excuses himself to go flirt when they get back, leaving Zara to actually fill out the paperwork and sort through the new hires to create the teams for each new sector.
Once that's sorted, taking until just after lunch and leaving her hungry and irritated, she begins writing up her complaint. She wasn't kidding about taking this to Corban Yaxley - Theo's uselessness today may be just what she's been waiting for. Tonight she'll be the sole leader of the Unit, she's confident about that.
She strides into Yaxley's office uninvited and unannounced with her formal complaint gripped in one fist, and for once she's pleased to see that Theo is already present.
"Excellent, you're here." She says briskly.
The elder Yaxley curls his lip. "As you should have been - thank you for finally joining us Ms. Wong."
Zara nearly trips as she comes to a dead stop in the middle of the room. This already isn't going how it's supposed to - what does Yaxley mean she's supposed to already be here? She'd never received a summons.
She says as much, and Theo rolls his eyes. "As I was saying." He drawls mockingly, and Zara fights back the hatred and disgust that crawls up her spine at the declaration. Stay in control, don't get emotional. She reminds herself firmly. She can kill him later, after she's exposed him now.
"The body of the Mudblood criminal you killed has been identified as Dirk Cresswell." Yaxley informs her blandly. "We also believe to know the identity of the boy you allowed to get away in your blood-crazed quest against Mr. Cresswell."
Zara gapes. "That I let- Sir, that isn't-"
"Theodore has already explained the situation to me." Yaxley cuts her off firmly. "If you had simply disposed of Mr. Cresswell quickly and returned to help my nephew fend off the other assailant the boy wouldn't have had time to escape."
Zara could swear, but she keeps the words locked up in the back of . It won't do her any good to lose her cool here. "I was unaware of a third assailant, and I was defending myself against Mr. Cresswell." She says firmly, fighting to keep her voice even and professional. "I apologize for thinking Mr. Yaxley could handle himself, considering his Hit Wizard training."
Yaxley raises an eyebrow, clearly unimpressed, and then proceeds to ignore her explanation entirely. "The escaped criminal is believed to be one Dean Thomas, a school-mate of Undesirable Number One. His capture could have brought us closer to capturing Potter."
Well . Zara steals a glance over at Theo, who looks irritatingly smug about the whole situation, before she looks back at his uncle.
"I was unaware of his identity at the time sir, I apologize. I would naturally have put more focus on his capture had I known."
"Indeed. My nephew will be debriefing the Unit on all known associates of Potter and his friends tomorrow afternoon so that these sorts of mistakes will not occur again."
Zara suppresses the flinch she naturally wants to give at 'mistake'. She doesn't make mistakes - she'd told Theo to secure the kid so this is his fault really. But of course his uncle would side with him.
She keeps her anger locked firmly in her gut up until she gets home, at which point she unloads all of it onto her mother, who looks unimpressed.
"This changes nothing. He lied about the situation so he's clearly still hiding something." She says briskly.
Zara sighs and takes Princess up to her room - she'd really wanted a bit more sympathy from Hui Ying, but her mother is right. Keep your eyes on the target.
It's only later, when she's winding down to sleep, that something occurs to her. Theo could have just killed Cresswell himself if he was so annoyed by her dragging it out - so why hadn't he?
She sits up excitedly, startling Princess who mewls pitifully until Zara her in apology. Theo had looked ill when Zara came back over to him after killing Cresswell. Theo wasn't comfortable with killing the Fugitives.
"He's not just trying to make me look bad." She breathes out, feeling a grin spreading across her face at the realization. "He's sabotaging the group because he's a traitor."
It's a thrilling realization, and Zara thinks she's going to have a lot of fun following Theo around in the coming weeks now that she knows. If he's really a spy he'll slip up eventually - and Zara will probably get his uncle's blessing to take him down.
She goes to sleep that night feeling much better.
The next day she's all smiles and apologies, and she even happily announces Theo as being in charge during his debrief on Potter's associates in the afternoon. She listens attentively and even suggests afterwards that they quiz the teams randomly over the next week to make sure the information has settled in fully. She can tell Theo is suspicious, but she doesn't care. She knows his secret now, and she's going to reveal him to everyone.
She follows him doggedly through the rest of the month, sitting with him at every meal and inviting herself along when he goes out after work. She happily keeps up conversations with him and takes note of his reactions whenever she intentionally talks about hunting down the Mudbloods or killing Order members. Unfortunately he's gotten better and doesn't slip the way he had in the forest that day, but Zara is confident that if she's patient she'll get what she's looking for.
It takes two weeks - two long, exhausting, infuriating weeks - but eventually Zara gets her chance when Theo invites her to an information drop with him on the evening of Monday, February ninth. He's been on a few others in that time, though as usual the tips didn't turn out to be much. Still, Zara feigns flattery when he asks her along the morning of the drop.
"I'm excited to meet your informant! Is he from your Hit Wizard days?" She asks brightly that evening, when the Ministry is nearly empty due to quitting time having been a solid two hours prior.
"He wasn't mine directly." Theo replies lazily. "But I saw him a few times in the past couple years on active duty, and when I put feelers out back when we were put in charge he responded. He's never been the best but he's had some good info in the past so I figure he's better than nothing."
It's a smooth lie - he's obviously practiced the response. Zara just hums lightly, even as she mentally sneers that she knows they'll be going to his Order contact pretending to be an 'informant' in the name of protecting Theo's espionage. They'll regret underestimating her.
They take the Muggle exit of the Ministry, and Zara can't cover her vague repulsion at having to walk through the streets of Muggle London, still bustling and filthy with Muggles going to and fro.
Theo obviously catches it and gives her a sympathetic look. "Sorry, we need to make sure we're not being followed, this guy is massively paranoid, and the Order wouldn't even think to look here for us."
That, at least, makes sense. She certainly wouldn't normally be caught dead out her among the cattle, but it's a worthwhile sacrifice to finally get rid of this particularly irksome thorn in her side.
She's going to need a long shower after this though - she'll be absolutely furious if this doesn't pan out after the sacrifices she's making, and has been making for weeks.
"Just stay back. I told him I'd bring you with this time but like I said-"
"Paranoid. Got it." She agrees cheerfully. She'd been expecting as much - they wouldn't want her to get a good look at the Order member's face after all. But too bad for them, she has other plans.
She waits at the mouth of an alleyway and listens in as Theo meets with someone who she can't see at all from her vantage point - which would have been suspicious if she hadn't already been onto them. Which means this was a last-minute deception, and will be easily disassembled once she has her hands on the informant.
The guy tells Theo something vague about spotting a campfire in an area close by the Wye river just off one of the Muggle's highways. Zara has no idea what a 'highway' is, but Theo seems to know, which only further proves his being a Blood Traitor.
Theo returns looking annoyed. "Okay, not as helpful as I'd like but I can organize a group to patrol the areas that match that description." He tells her as he moves to start walking back to the Ministry.
Zara nods, and then fakes a yawn. "Sounds good. I'm gonna find a quiet place and go home, I'm beat."
Theo looks a little concerned, but agrees. "Alright, I'll see you tomorrow."
She fakes walking away until he's back out of sight, then beelines for the alleyway again. If his stalling cost her her chance-
But no, there's still a figure in there, huddled against the dead end and snickering to himself. He yelps when Zara grabs him by the arm.
"Alright, name and allegiance, now." She hisses, pressing her wand into his side like a threat.
The guy squeaks pathetically for a moment, and she realizes that he's laughing at her.
"Lady if you think you're fooling anyone with that you're nutty." He wheezes, his voice worn and his breath utterly vile. "That ain't no gun."
Zara has no idea what a gun is, but she has figured out this guy isn't Order. This guy doesn't even know about magic.
So she gives him a small demonstration.
"Now then," She says with a grin, standing over his still twitching form, "If you don't want another shot of my friend the Cruciatus Curse then you're going to tell me everything I want to know.
The guy breaks easily after that, sobbing out that he's just a homeless man and that Theo had hired him to pretend to be part of a business deal to throw her off his scent. He's a blubbering mess by the end and Zara zaps him again just to shut him up.
She strides away from the limp body, rolling the new information around in her head. It isn't exactly what she'd been expecting, but it still proves what she needs it to. Theo never had an informant, so all his bogus information came directly from his own mind. Information that had wasted resources and gotten Snatchers and Deatheaters alike seriously injured. There's no weaseling his way out of this one. Not this time.
She apparates home straight from the alley - who cares if she's seen, they'll be ruling all these idiots soon enough - and heads straight up to her room to put together her presentation for Corban Yaxley. She even sends both him and Yurina owls to inform them that she'd like to meet with them the next day to discuss something that can't wait.
She'll do everything right, and by this time tomorrow she'll have that traitor Yaxley behind bars, stripped of his wand, and at her mercy.
She's looking forward to it. She's got a lot of frustration she wants to work out.
Author's Note: Well that was fun! This is, I think, the darkest chapter to date? And it's still January, we've got plenty worse to go! :D Anyway, you're all going to hate me next week probably but don't worry, I won't leave this plot thread hanging for too long xD I'm not that mean.
Next Week: A plan is only as good at its execution
So I'm thinking I might do a final 'afterwords' chapter to share my thoughts and feelings on writing this story, if that's something people would be interested in? I'm also open to answering any lingering questions people might have there as well!
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