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Bessy

"A wizard? Right... I may have amnesia but I'm not stupid."

"On the contrary I think you are very intelligent."

"Care to explain then?"

"We've got a long ride ahead so I'll settle with you as much as possible."

The man got comfortable.

"Over the last twenty years we have become aware of a phenomena which we have come to call the magical community. Our attempts to pierce their society have largely been unsuccessful, but we do know some key things that we have been able to scrap together. We are sure that's its fairly correct however there is a lot of information missing so bear with me. Twenty years ago there was a war of sorts, a conflict, terrorism, full-scale war, we can't really tell, but it wasn't pretty. During that time our society, the non-magical one, muggles we think they call us, suffered many catastrophes. Bridges fell, houses collapsed, things were blown to bits, all sorts of property got destroyed and that kind of stuff. Thousands upon thousands of people died is the key point. On a per individual situation it was normal, but upon investigating all of the situations and looking outside the box we found things to be rather ambiguous. First we found signs of memory loss in almost all individuals present, time frames did not coincide, evidence given was shabby at best, and the number of such catastrophic occurrences was far too frequent. Basically a lot of it didn't fit when you looked at the big picture, things were just too similar. On a handful of occasions we saw, through concealed cameras and audio recordings, a few common spells if you will cast by what we now call wizards. Two of the primary spells we saw cast were Crucio which caused the subject to cry out in pain and roll on the ground screaming, and Avada Kadevra which simply killed the subject. Our lucky break came when one day things got quiet and we found a few burnt up newspapers. After months of work on reconstruction we gathered that a baby with a scar on its head survived something extraordinary, and killed this evil without a name, again the papers were burnt so we tried our best. We tried to contact this magical community numerous times, believe me we have tried everything imaginable.

After being unsuccessful in contacting them we were somewhat successful in locating them. We succeeded in finding anomalies, fuzz on radar, random half-second blips, and electrical equipment that simply fails at random in certain places. We believe them to be out there, but hidden very well with magic. Eventually we gave up and began constructing contingency plans for the safety of humanity was another such war to occur. As is obvious our biggest problem has been locating, contacting and gaining any sort of useful information on the magical community. Therefore we had to be content with sitting back and merely getting ready. There are three key aspects to the program that we set up. Technology. Training. Magic. We have covered the first two, the weaponry and training we have at our disposal is at least a hundred years a head of the public, and another fifty of the general military. We get part of it from the military, the other part from private and state funded research labs, the equipment we have gotten is ... experimental, meaning that there is nothing else that can rival it. The magical part would be the hardest part of the equation, we knew that we would only be able to at best acquire a handful of men or women, and that we would only be able to make a similar number of equipment for them. Money is not the problem, production is. Now you have come along..." Miller explained carefully.

"Okay, I'll buy that. So now what you're saying is that I am powerful magically, or so you believe, because since it was apparently such a big deal, logic dictates that it had to have special significance, doing something which none thought possible . This new menace is upon the magical community, I fought, this time lost, and now you have me. Because you can't contact them and I can't remember a thing the only real option left is for me to fulfill the final piece of the puzzle, which happens to be the best possible solution you could have hoped for. The real reason that you need me is that if you guys can't see them, and I'm one of them then I should be able to naturally bypass any barriers that may have been set up against you."

Miller smiled inwardly, he like this kid already. "You would form the center of a special team, you would be the sergeant, the leader of the squad. You and your squad would be armed and trained to the brim, you would be an army in and of itself, and if I have my way you'll be able to control other ones when the times comes. That, is option A."

"What's option B?"

"Option B is we lock you up in maximum security and let the biologists run some tests on you."

"Lets go with option A." The man said with a grin.

"That's a very good choice son."

"So...what will my name be?"

"What do you want it to be?"

The man took the medallion out of his pocket and moved it around. "Call me Snake."

"Mind saying that in English?"

"What?"

"You just looked at that snake medallion and well...talked snake is what I would say."

"Isn't that unusual? Improbable?"

"After what I've seen in my life time the unusual and improbable is usually the correct. Besides, if you can talk snake then we might already have your first squad member, and you name?"

"Snake or Sarge, whichever."

"Fitting, Snake as code, Sarge is what we'll call you."

"Sure."

They soon got onto a plane that took them to the middle of nowhere in Greenland. Miller explained that Greenland was largely a neutral country, with a lot of uninhabited, unwatched area that was tough to get through and navigate. It was perfect for all sorts of equipment testing. The jet they had used was small, could fly vertically, and was extremely fast, it only took them ten minutes to get to their destination.

"There are other faster jets, but those don't have stabilizing seats, and without stabilizing seats you'd be shaking for the next few days." Miller told him as they got off at a small landing platform.

"I want one." Sarge said marveling at the machine.

"Yours is in the hanger, it's a combat variant."

Sarge took the time to look around, they were surrounded by a rim of mountains on all sides, secluded in their own valley about twenty kilometers in width and around sixty in length. A lake was at one end with a river running through it disappearing between snow-topped mountains. A group of small buildings clustered around where the lake met one of the giant mountains, run down and dilapidated looking it didn't seem to be very impressive as the dark sky gave everything a very foreboding feeling.

"Eh, where is everything?" Sarge asked perplexed.

Miller pointed to the mountains opposite of where they stood. "Weapons division in those mountains." He pointed farther right, closer towards them. "Armory and logistics. Vehicle division behind us, the hive everywhere, but centered in the middle about a kilometer below us. And everything you see around you is our testing ground. It was finally completed two years ago, so its fairly new."

Right on queue the jet and the platform they were on suddenly began descending into a brightly lit cavern. It was as if stepping into a new world, trucks, cars, planes, jets, and even a couple tanks spread out over a large area, scientists working on them individually.

Sarge was led around the compound, shown the various wings and main projects that they were working on.

"The benefits of having all of the research labs in one area allows quicker integration of technology, makes things move faster, allows the scientists to kick ideas back and forth all the time, its all a collective organization." Miller was telling Sarge as they passed through the weapons section.

"Hey what's that?" Sarge stopped at one of the glass walls and was looking keenly inside.

Miller already knew without looking what had captivated Sarge's attention, it caught everyone's attention and he still didn't know its official name. "Its called the BFG, Big Fucking Gun, never bothered learning its official name."

The BFG, the gun that was the epitome of any boy's wet dream sat on a tall cylindrical platform, suspended by see through plastic, it gave it a heavenly look, if god had a gun that would be it. "The technology behind it, or rather the energy, it uses has replaced electricity, or it will when its perfectly safe. For now we're the only ones that use it."

"So you don't use electricity?"

"No, too inefficient, not enough power. We simply use anti-matter for all our needs really, convert the energy from that into the plasma that the BFG uses, or plasma cells instead of electricity. Pure concentrated energy." Miller talked about two of the most dangerous substances in the known universe as if he were talking about how to make French toast.

"And...will I be able to use the BFG?" Sarge asked, afraid that Miller would say no.

"We haven't put your name on it yet but if you really want it on there."

"Its ok, I like how it looks as is."

They kept walking through the complex, or The Hive, as it was called. Various scientists came up to Miller a few times, confirmed that project Exodus was initiated, saw Sarge, shook hands and went to do what it was that they were working on. He found the people to be friendly, brilliant, some a little crazy or eccentric, but brilliant, always happy. At the end of the tour they stood before a large steel door that looked neigh impenetrable.

"One of our biologists found it five years ago, they say it was in its adolescent stage at that time, it grew...so we locked it up. We guess that its about forty years old, which means that it lives for a very long time, other then that we don't know anything, this is the first time we have found anything like it. Haven't been able to tranquilize it, so we've kept it as our pet if you will." Miller hit a switch on the access panel and the door slid open silently, opening up to what was essentially a large viewing room that overlooked a part meadow, part cave.

"This is only the entrance to its cave, it digs into the mountain you see, so we've had to pretty much reinforce the entire thing with steel."

As Sarge looked out he saw the thing bathing in artificial light and his breath caught in his throat, he didn't know how but he was almost certain that he had seen something like this before. Curled up in a ball was the biggest snake he had ever laid eyes on, it looked like it could swallow a pick up truck with ease.

Miller flipped a few switches on the wall panel. "Try talking to it, it should be able hear you, there are microphones set up inside this room and in its pen."

Sarge looked nervous for a second before speaking. "Hello?"

The giant snake moved its head and looked at him. "Hmm? A human...talking to me...who are you?"

"Sarge."

"A wizard?" She hissed out, looking him over.

"Well, maybe, I don't know. I can't remember anything." Sarge proceeded to give a quick over of what had happened.

"Well that is interesting, you probably are a wizard though, never heard of one being able to talk to snakes...then again, I don't get out much nor am I that old."

"Is it lonely?"

"Yes, but they treat me well. They bring in prey for me to hunt, I have a lot of room, you see, just no one to talk to."

"What are you? What is your name?"

"I am a Razorback Basilisk, and I have no name."

"Would you like one?"

"What one?"

"How about Bessy?"

"That sounds nice, thank you."

"Well it is a pleasure meeting you Bessy."

"Likewise Sarge."

"Are there other kinds like you Bessy, out there I mean?"

"Yes there are other basilisks, they are rare, but I am the most rare of them all, if I were to guess I would say that there are less then a dozen of us on the planet."

"What makes you different from other basilisks?" Sarge asked questions just as they popped into his mind, maybe something could trigger his memory.

"Well for one we are twice as big, and we can do this." Suddenly razor sharp spikes and blade like protrusions shot up along her body, out from beneath her scales. Miller visibly stepped back in fright.

"Its ok, she is just showing me how she is different from the other type of basilisk." Sarge told Miller in a reassuring voice. "I want to go in there, how do I do that?"

"Wait one minute, I'm going to go in."

"Ok dear."

"Are you sure about this?" Miller asked with obvious apprehension.

"Completely, she's harmless."

Harmless, that's the word he used to describe the most lethal creature known to man. "As you wish, just get yourself killed." Reluctantly he led him to a small doorway that connected to a tunnel, I'll be watching."

Bessy watched Sarge with interest as he walked towards her, not scared in the least, a fascinating human.

"Can I touch you?" He asked.

"Sure."

"Just don't take those blades out, they look pretty sharp."

Bessy gave what amounted to chuckle and watched him as he touched her hardened scales.

They talked for a little while longer while almost half the staff at the Hive watched on in awed silence.

"By god Miller...who is this guy?" Asked Patrick Swain.

"Our Sergeant." Miller replied simply, audible to everyone now in the room.

"No shit." Said a scientist with a t-shirt that said 'If you see me running try to keep up.'

"You think Bessy can be on my squad?" Sarge asked when he finally came back into the room that was now full of people.

"Sure, its your squad."

"Oh and can you not keep it closed, she won't hurt anyone I promise." He referred to Bessy's pen.

Miller looked at him for a moment and then went over to a consol at the side of the room, picked up a small mike and spoke into it. "Good day everyone this is Frank Miller. I am here with some very good news. Project Exodus is as you may have heard a go. Ladies and gentlemen we have our Sergeant. Secondly Sarge has spoken with our pet snake and has recruited her, Bessy, to be on his squad. Her area will now be open at all times, so if you see her around make sure to say hi, and don't worry she is harmless."