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Chapter Twenty Two: Changing Faces Part One:

“December Twenty Sixth Earth Protection Force Super Solider Program log,” stated the cool voice of Agent Bishop. “The replicated mutated cells have properly incubated yesterday and the process to isolate the mutagen for extraction has already begun. Soon, I shall have the elements necessary to begin testing and will be one step closer to preparing the first prototype super solider. The only unknown variable I must test is what kind of reaction the mutagen reacts when combined with human DNA.”

The mutagen swirls in the test tubes, separating from the other elements of the replicated mutant turtle DNA. After a few seconds, the mutagen flowed straight through, before ended up right in a test tube.

“The mutagen has successfully been isolated and now is ready for the next phase of testing,” continued Bishop as he grabbed the vial, before he corked the vial. “The next round of testing shall begin once I find a volunteer test subject to test the reaction of the mutagen to human DNA. End of log.”

The transmission cancelled and at the second, an alarm sounded, which caused Bishop to spin around, before he moved quickly to a console system. Security had been increased in all of his facilities since the incident involving Karai but obviously someone had found a flaw in the security system. Bishop pressed a button and sure enough, he saw an unauthorized person on the base. He prepared to call for security on the intercom system of the base.

“Bishop to security, unauthorized body in the vicinity of level two, room C,” informed Bishop. “All security in that area move in and capture intruder. I will meet you shortly.”

Bishop looked at the vial of mutagen before a sudden burst of inspiration hit him, as he picked up the vial along with a syringe, before he made his way from the laboratory and down the stairs, quickly as possible.

Up on level two, the intruder, a very common man with ragged clothes looked around, his arms full of blueprints. Surely one of these things would be his ticket to riches.

“Halt!” shouted a security guard and the intruder turned to run down the corridor but another a pair of security guards cut him off at the other end and the intruder found himself trapped as more security guards closed in, before they grabbed the intruder and held him.

Bishop walked up the steps, with a smug look on his face, as he readjusted his tie casually and stared down the intruder.

“So, I supposed you thought you could breach my security and walk out of here without consequences,” said Bishop coolly as he looked at the intruder. “Just a common thief, no doubt uneducated, because anyone the least bit literate would know that breaking into a government base is a bad idea after recent incidents.”

The intruder attempted to break free but Bishop grabbed him by the arm, before forcing him against the wall, and pulling out the vial of mutagen and the syringe. Bishop filled the syringe with the mutagen, causing the syringe to glow with a nearly blinding quality that Bishop quickly turned his head away to shiled his eyes.

“Curious,” muttered Bishop, but he decided that he would not be distracted. “Well, I will not allow your trip here to be wasted, you’ll be volunteered for an experiment for the good of the country.”

“Please, don’t hurt me, I was just trying to make some money,” pleaded the thief.

“This won’t hurt, for long,” answered Bishop coldly as he raised the syringe before he stabbed it into the arm of the thief, injected mutagen straight into his blood stream.

The thief screamed in absolute pain and agony, as the security guards stepped back in horror as Bishop calmly stepped back as his skin began to melt right before their very eyes, much to the horror of the security guards, as Bishop just casually studied the slow and rather drawn out demise of the thief right before his very eyes.

At the American Wizarding Government headquarters, Alexandra sat at her desk, swapped with paper work. Despite her best efforts, it seemed that a few Voldemort sympathizers had slipped through the cracks and had decided to take refuge into the city of New York. The very frustrating thing was there was evidence that suggested that they had aligned themselves with the various mob organizations in the city of New York and indirectly were protected by the Oroku Saki as a result of his various ties, which constituted as a problem in getting concrete information because of his close ties with the authorities in New York City.

“Madam President, your visitors are here,” crackled a voice over the intercom.

“Send them in,” replied Alexandra in a tired and quite weary voice, as she placed the latest bit of paperwork, as the door opened and Lily walked in, followed closely by Harry and Hailey. “Oh hello, Harry, Hailey, Lily, lost track of the time and thought you weren’t coming by until a little later.”

“Alex, you look exhausted,” said Lily in a concerned voice.

“These damn eighteen hour shifts and then the Daily Prophet has to go off against how the American Wizarding Government is isolated from Voldemort, about how we don’t have the problems on the scale the British Ministry does,” remarked Alexandra. “Yet, several attacks, nothing too large, but they are spread out in different parts of the country, making it a mess to send out people to modify memories. The plane that went down yesterday in Colorado was far from an accident and so was that train derailment.”

“But there are people getting rounded up, aren’t there?” asked Hailey.

“Oh yes, we sentenced nine people in the past week and if I remember rightly, the same thing happened during Voldemort’s first attempt to gain power, from what my predecessor told me” explained Alexandra. “It slowed down to a mere trickle after Voldemort but over the past year it picked back up. I’m almost sure that Alonso is trying to encourage people inside the country to rebel and cause trouble. Unfortunately I can’t prove it.”

Alexandra sighed deeply.

“Then there was this last incident, four people who were strongly suspected of being supporters of Voldemort were last seen in New York but the Mayor seems to not want to let any magical influences into the city, because he’s afraid it might cause a panic if he knows there are dangerous fugitives,” said Alexandra. “He did tell me the authorities are looking into the situation, but frankly I can’t do much of anything once I don’t have any information. I have a good idea that they might be conspiring with the mob, who from what I here has a vendetta against Harry for his part in helping end their hold over the city two years ago during that large string of gang wars.”

“Who doesn’t,” remarked Harry darkly but then he shook his head. “Still your hands are tied regarding, but it’s too bad someone with metamorphmagus talents doesn’t attempt to infiltrate the mob in a disguise, and if conclusive information happened to fall into your hands, then you could conduct a raid to bring these people to justice.”

“I see,” replied Alexandra as Lily looked at Harry. “Well, I hope this person, should they attempt to do this, is careful and doesn’t get themselves injured, but its best if the information is just passed to me, without me seeing who sent it, so I can deny anything.”

“Right and on another note to abruptly change the subject, anything else about that mystical box that was stolen?” asked Harry.

“No,” answered Alexandra. “All we know is that there was no signed of forced entry, so it had to have been magical individuals who stole it, not that helps any, as there are five hundred thousand known witches and wizards in this country.”

“The latest information from the spies within the Ministry is here, correct?” suggested Harry.

“Yes, I do, Harry, but I’m afraid it’s rather slim this time, I suspect the Ministry may be onto one or more of my spies from within by now, so only one potential Voldemort supporter working in the Ministry, a top member of the Auror Department I might add,” said Alexandra. “He’s been with them only since a few years after Voldemort fell the first time, but his father and grandfather were top Aurors in their day, so he’s got connections but is also known to be a bit of a blood purist and his father was a friend of Pius Thicknesse.”

Harry nodded, taking all that information in as Alexandra handed him the file, containing all the necessary information.

Back in Bishop’s lab, some of his scientists were examining the pile of ooze that was one a human being, examining it with all sorts of equipment.

“These readings are extremely strange,” remarked one of the scientists.

“How so?” demanded Bishop.

“Well, for one, this should be extremely toxic but it’s not and number two, there is an indication that there is something sentient within this ooze,” answered the scientists, as he bent down to observe the ooze.

Bishop didn’t look surprised but he did do a slight double take as what appeared to be an eyeball poked out of the ooze and it began to glow the same vibrant green color that his syringe did earlier and the scientists, gasped and for good reason.

Human arms began to burst out of the ooze before legs did as well. The area of the ooze where the eye was slowly contorted into a head before the ooze began nearly blinding as the puddle of ooze became a fully formed human being in a matter of seconds.

The scientist who had went in to observe the ooze looked shocked, as he looked into what was essentially his own mirror image stood before him.

“This is extremely interesting and quite unexpected, it appears the mutagen has given our test subject shape shifting abilities,” declared Agent Bishop.

“Shape-shifting abilities?” asked the thief, who had an amount of greed wash over his face at the implications of this. With his new found abilities, he could use them to pull jobs every night and no one would be the wiser, as he would take on a different appearance.

“The long term effects of the mutagen and its reaction to the human DNA is quite unknown,” interjected one of the scientists. “Along with any limitations that our subject may have as a result of these new found powers, along with any instability.”

“Yes,” answered Bishop crisply as he studied the thief’s facial features, but nothing seemed to be the matter. “We must leave him here and study this matter further.”

“I’m not your pet science project, you can’t just force me to stay, I’ve got to pull some jobs,” answered the thief and quickly he made his way towards the exit and Bishop prepared to give the signal to stop him, but it wasn’t necessary.

The thief stopped and gave a painful gasp, while he clutched his chest and began to slump against the wall, while sweating madly, as his skin began to slowly melt. In a desperate attempt to change himself back, he screwed up his eyes, but the burning sensation just seemed to intensify as he began to degenerate back into a puddle of ooze.

“Not so easy to use your powers, is it?” inquired Bishop calmly and the man opened his eyes as he felt himself smudged against the wall, as he looked right into Agent Bishop’s face and began to glow once again, as his features began to contort slowly, until Bishop stared an exact mirror image of himself. He had found another limitation for the mutagen, as the thief needed to get a clear visual of what he was going to change into to properly change.

“Painful, need to change me back, I beg of you, I’ll do anything if you change me back,” pleaded the thief. “It burns too much when it wears off.”

“Yes, I believe I will find an antidote to revert you back to your pitiful existence once you do me a small little favor,” responded Bishop. “Follow me, and I will give you the specifications of the favor you need to do to me.”

The thief nodded, as he followed Bishop, careful not to let the government agent out of his sight just in case he needed to change again.

Back in a run down part of New York City, a quartet of three men and one woman entered a night club in the outskirts of New York before they approached a tough looking mobster.

“The scar will soon be erased,” remarked one of the men in a cryptic voice and the mobster nodded.

“Big Louie and the Ambassador are waiting in the back room,” answered the mobster in an equally cryptic voice and the quartet made their way to the back room, ignoring the various people who were yelling in a crazed matter before they proceeded to the back room and pushed the door open.

A large man dressed in a white suit sat in the back of the room and cracked his knuckles, while a shorter man sat in the back.

“Ah, Gentlemen and lady, it is a great honor to meet you,” stated Big Louie as he leaned back in his chair. “I understand you’ve had some dealings with a mutual enemy of ours recently.”

“Yes, Harry Potter,” piped up the woman. “He’s been on the look out for any sympathizers he can, to use a mafia term, knock off and he’s got the American Wizarding Government now searching for us.”

“Our group used to be much larger, but now it’s been cut down to just us and while there are others who support the cause around the country, New York is becoming a dangerous place for those who want to kept the natural order of the Wizarding world in check,” continued one of the man.

“I can relate, Harry Potter, along with those giant lizards, is the contributing factor to why my organization is not running this city,” said Big Louie. “My good friend, the Ambassador to the Mexican Ministry of Magic, has been filling me on some of Potter’s exploits and for a punk kid, he gets around a lot.”

“Yes, Senor Potter does get around too much but the Dark Lord will fix him all too soon,” said the Mexican Ambassador with a chuckle. “Minister Alonso has met with the Dark Lord and while he might be a bit loco, his aims make perfect sense to bring the Wizarding World under one unified ruler. So, the Minister says that all supporters of the Dark Lord should keep up with their activities to make sure all the Mudbloods and blood traitors are put in their place, but if the American Wizarding Government suspects you, to lay low until the heat gets off.”

“Yeah, so all of you ain’t going to worry about nothing. For a small fee, you’ll be spending some time at my night club,” added Big Louie. “And I won’t go out of my way to pursue vendetta against the Potter nuisance but if he comes sniffing around any of my clubs, he’s going to be sleeping with the fishes.”

Outside the club at this time, Harry checked out his altered appearance in a mirror. His hair was shorted slightly, made a light shade of brown and his eyes were a shade of blue, along with his height being altered several more inches and a number of scars being added to signify a faux story that he would have tell about being a grizzled veteran of the mob. It didn’t take too much time to alter the appearance, which prompted Harry to reflect on how far he had came with his natural Metamorphmagus abilities. At first, he could only hold them for a couple of hours at a time, with intense concentration but after years of practice and periodical use, Harry found his use of one of his magical talents to come along as simple as breathing.

With everything in check, Harry made his way inside the club and calmly pushed the door open, walking inside, looking around. Most of the people inside the club were normal people, but Harry did recognize a few individuals from past altercations, the most conspicuous would be two members of Luther Malfoy’s old gang before he formed the Squib Inquisition, Mugsy and Boris, who were playing pool and hitting on a couple of women who looked much younger than them.

Harry recognized a man sitting at the table as one of the individuals in Big Louie’s mob that he and his brothers had fought many years ago so Harry reasoned that if anyone would have answers about the whereabouts of the mob boss, he would.

Without fear, Harry walked over to the mobster and the mobster looked up right in his face.

“What do you want?” demanded the mobster.

“I’m looking for a mob kingpin, a real legend in the underworld, calls himself Big Louie,” answered Harry in a cool voice, not blinking once as he stared down the mobster.

“Who wants to know?” challenged the mobster.

“The name’s Shadow, twenty seven kills in the past year and I have a proposition for Big Louie,” answered Harry. “So I suggest you make with the information and point me in the right direction, or I’ll be making number twenty eight.”

“Oh really, how are you fixing to make me number twenty eight, Shadow,” answered the mobster in a disdainful voice.

Harry just smirked before he walked over calmly to the pool table where Mugsy and Boris were playing pool before he picked up a half full tankard before he swung it, bringing it down on the head of Mugsy. Mugsy fell backwards, after the glass cracked over his head.

Boris swung but staggered over his feet, before Harry casually kicked him in the face and a crack was heard as Boris fell backwards to the ground, blood oozing out of his nose. Harry then lifted up and threw Boris casually onto the table, his face smacking the edge of the table.

“Something kind of like that, but worse,” answered Harry calmly as Boris was unconscious, his blood flowing to the table. “Now, this has to do with a certain scar headed meddler, if you catch what I’m saying.”

“Another one,” retorted the mobster and Harry placed his hands on the throat of the mobster, making the villain realize that Harry could wring his neck in an instant. “Why didn’t you say so? Big Louie’s in the backroom, he’s sitting with the ambassador, no need to get hostile.”

“I knew you’d see it my way,” replied Harry as he backed off of the mobster, who pulled out a gun, but a blast from Harry’s concealed wand caused the gun to disintegrate right to dust before Harry turned to make his way in a confident, but slightly intimidating matter to the back room.

Back at the main lab of Bishop’s government facility, the intruder sat on a chair, still bearing the appearance of Agent Bishop but he began to feel a slightly stinging sensation, which indicated that he was nearly about to change but as Bishop stepped into view, carrying a hallow blue body suit with tubes sticking in every which direction, he managed to slow the effects, retaining Agent Bishop’s appearance.

“Get inside this suit, it will slow the effects of your degeneration when it happens, until you manage to locate someone that you can study to morph into them to stop the pain,” explained Bishop casually. “I must warn you, this suit is only a temporary measure, you have just eight hours.”

“And when I succeed, you give me the antidote and I become normal,” added the thief in a hopeful, nearly childish tone.

“Of course,” answered Bishop as he handed the thief a piece of paper. “Combine your experience of thievery along with your new found abilities, and the alien computer circuit board from Saki Manor will be retrieved in no time.”

The thief nodded, before he walked off. Bishop watched him leave and when he was completely out of site, Bishop made his way over to the console, before activating his log.

“Log for December Twenty Seventh,” said Bishop. “A suitable test subject has been found and has been injected with the mutagen. A rather interesting anomaly occurred, as it appears the subject has been gifted with shape shifting abilities. The abilities are temporary at best, as the mutagen appears to be inspiring an unstable reaction with his body. In time, I’ll be able to study this matter further once I have access to the remains when the test subject fulfills its purpose. Once that happens, the next stage of the Earth Protection Force super solider program will move on. Until then, Bishop out.”

With that the log recording faded and Bishop stepped back, as he prepared to wait and watch the fruits of his work and steal a valuable piece of technology out from Oroku Saki’s nose at the same time.

“So let me get this straight, you’ve had a run in with the Potter kid too,” said Big Louie.

“Yes, as I told you, we had a little run in and he took out half of my men,” answered Harry. “Dangerous kick, shocked he didn’t decapitate Vito.”

“He’s also rather resourceful, my cousin was sent to Azkaban because of him,” answered one of the men. “Personally, I wouldn’t mind taking a crack at him, but word is that the Dark Lord wants to take him down personally so I guess I’m going to have to settle for pissing on his grave.”

The four wannabe Death Eaters laughed and Harry joined them, not to blow his cover, but then grew serious.

“Yes, but what makes you think the Dark Lord would leave enough of Potter to put in a grave?” asked Harry which caused all four suspects, Big Louie, and the Mexican Ambassador to laugh at his dark humor.

“I like the way you think…” stated the woman before shaking her head. “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name. No need to be evasive, we’re all sympathizers of the Dark Lord’s cause after all.”

“Oh, Shadow,” replied Harry coolly.

“Lindsay Dempsey,” answered the woman.

“Carl Preston,” said one of the men.

“Stephen Travis,” stated the second man.

“Matthew Morgan,” informed the third man.

“Pleased to meet you all,” remarked Harry as he had to work hard to conceal his smile, having recorded the entire conversation on a magically concealed tape recorder in his pocket. “Just thought of something, I need to meet a business contact of mine, he’s was rather insistent that we meet up tonight, so I’ll be catching you guys all later.”

“Just a second, Shadow,” remarked Big Louie. “Before you visit this contact of yours, I need you to do us a bit a favor.”

“A favor?” asked Harry.

“A simple favor really, not like killing anyone, but this favor is a bit outside the law, as you could get busted if the Mayor found out you were carrying this contraband,” responded Big Louie. “This is just an added bit of extra insurance to make sure that you’re not playing us for a fool, you know, that you’re not some pigeon if you catch my drift.”

“I see. What do you want me to do?” asked Harry, morbid curiosity getting the better of him.

“You’re going to drop off this package, I was meaning to do it myself once the heat had cleared, but for you to do it, it would save me the trouble,” informed Big Louie as he picked up a small box, wrapped it brown paper and shoved it into Harry’s arms. “So, Shadow, this package needs to be delivered to Oroku Saki as soon as possible.”

“Saki,” repeated Harry.

“Yeah, Oroku Saki, you know, the guy who so graciously donated the funds for the reconstruction of New York City,” replied Big Louie and Harry detected a note of bitterness in his voice, no doubt stemming from the mob’s failed attempt to wrestle control of the criminal underworld away from the Foot two years ago. “He wanted me to hang onto this package for a bit, but now he’s ready to move it, called me just a few hours ago in fact. As far as I’m concerned, it’s just saving me the trip, I’ll give him a call to let him know you’re coming, so rest assure, if on some off chance you might be a pigeon, I’ll know about it, capice.”

Harry nodded, as it gave him an excuse to have a close look around Oroku Saki’s mansion and perhaps learn something that would give him more of an idea of what the Shredder was up to and maybe find out a bit more about Voldemort’s plans as well. It was a stretch, but it was too good of an opportunity to pass up.

With a nod, Harry walked off, preparing to disapparate straight to Saki Manor once he was out of view.

Outside of Saki Manor a guard looked around, at the sounds of activity in the bushes. Cautiously, the guard walked towards the bushes, before spotting a badly concealed figure within.

“Security control, we have a breach, please send…” started the guard, but he never finished as he was clubbed from behind with a metallic hand, as the thief made a pained, grunting noise as his face was nearly all the way melted, the ooze flowing through the tubes of the body.

The guard was spun around as the thief studied his facial appearance and he glowed a bright green color, before he began to morph into the guard that stood below him. With another quick thump, the thief tossed the unconscious guard into the bushes before he picked up his communication device.

“Disregard that last transmission, was only a cat,” amended the thief, as he removed a key card which he assumed would allow him entrance into Saki Manor.

“Fingerprint identification,” said a voice over the intercom and a small, metallic panel popped up, revealing a pad and the thief did as told. “Access approved.”

The door swung open and the thief stepped inside.

Just at that moment, Harry managed to arrive just outside of the front door of Saki Manor. Quietly, he slipped inside, before the door could shut, before entering Saki Manor for the first time.

“Wow,” muttered Harry to himself, as he looked around, grudgingly impressed by the sheer number of rooms and stairways inside Oroku Saki’s mansion. While not as large in quanity as Hogwarts, it was still quite impressive. Quietly, Harry slipped around into the shadows and then quickly moved towards the stairway, the package tucked underneath his arm, to poke around Saki Manor.

The thief poked around, as he felt a slight sting once again after searching for upstairs for close to a half of an hour, the tell tale sign that it would be once again time to change.

“Karai, the mob has sent someone over to deliver the package that I had left with them recently, they should be arriving any moment now,” declared the voice of Oroku Saki as the thief looked through the crack of the door, recognizing the savior of New York City at once, before his body began to glow and contorted once again.

Harry arrived upstairs around this time and spotted a door half ajar.

“Let’s see what lies behind that door,” muttered Harry to himself and he pulled the door open to reveal Oroku Saki’s personal study. Harry walked inside, closing the doors behind him.

Harry looked around, nothing too peculiar yet, but then his attention was piqued by a large statue that resembled Oroku Saki.

“For Salazar’s sake, how tacky can you get?” muttered Harry, shaking his head as he walked forward to get a better look at the statue, before something rather interesting struck Harry.

The statue appeared to be hollow and Harry wondered if it was actually a secret passage to somewhere. Pointing his wand towards the statue, Harry resolved to break it open and find out.

Just then the doors of the study swung open and Harry spun around, to see Oroku Saki standing in the doorway, staring at Harry with narrowed eyes.