The Battle of Perfecto

Hidalgo chuckled. Apparently he was the first person who had managed to break into Perfecto. It wasn’t difficult dispatching the defenders stationed at the park and the parking lot of Gate 3, not with the impenetrable shield his amulet provided him. His free hand touched the triangle unconsciously.

With his wand-light he found the Band storage closet and tore it open with a spell. He knew where it was, of course, from what he extracted from the Seer’s memory. He saw the small vault and approached it.

*
Don, carefully and quietly stepped out of the shadows and approached Hidalgo from behind. The cloaked figure froze and turned around slowly.

“I thought I smelled pussy when I stepped in,” he sneered. “Merry meet, Don Rage.”

“Is that how you should be talking to someone who’s got a wand pointed at you?” Don replied dangerously. His wand-tip was glowing, like a lit cigarette, and was smoking.

“Tut-tut,” Hidalgo clicked his tongue. “By all means, curse me. See what good that’ll do to you.”

“Reducto!” Don yelled. The spell seemed to make contact with Hidalgo’s skin, but it bounced off and hit the ceiling instead. Don waved away the falling debris and continued to cast curse after curse at Hidalgo.

The masked man laughed, his own wand lazily hanging from a lace around his wrist. Every spell sent towards him bounced away, careening in the opposite direction, causing the pillar, a door, and the ceiling severe damage.

“You retarded piece of dragon shit,” Hidalgo laughed, “How many more reflected spells will it take for you get it? I’M INVINCIBLE! Serpens Incarcera! ”

An enormous snake made of chains burst out of his wand and wound itself quickly around Don. Its enormous head reared, ready to strike.

“If you move, it will bite your head off,” Hidalgo smiled from behind the mask. He Summoned Don’s wand and returned to the vault where he performed the rite as how to open it. When he pulled the heavy metal door open, he found nothing. Unperturbed, he reached it and started patting his hand around the small space of the vault’s interior. When he still found nothing, he turned to Don.

“Where is it?” he spat.

“What are you talking about?” Don replied, his eyes on the giant snake’s head.

“The amulet!” Hidalgo said wildly. “It’s not in the vault!”

“Did you perform the ritual as you should have?”

“Of course I did, doxy-brain,” Hidalgo said, although he sounded uncertain.

Don glanced at the open vault, and then opened his mouth slightly, as though he spotted something.

“What is it?” Hidalgo growled. “What did I do wrong?”

“Close the vault,” Don instructed. “And release me.”

“Fat chance,” Hidalgo sneered.

“What can I do?” Don said, “I don’t have a wand, and even if I did, you have the amulet.”

Hidalgo peered at him, still suspicious. Before he could reply, however, there was a BANG! and the smell of gunpowder. Hidalgo screamed and fell to his knees. In the darkness of the lobby, Don could still see something wet glisten on Hidalgo’s back.

“Shit, ” Don said under his breath. He dared not move his head to look who had fired the gun, lest the snake bite it off.

“What is this?” Hidalgo gasped. He was hurt but he sounded amused. He rose, as though being shot was like a bee sting for him. He grabbed his wand from the vault door. “A wizard wielding Muggle weapons…?”

“Fuck, yeah,” a male voice replied. Shit, Don swore, in his mind this time. He recognized the voice. “Your amulet couldn’t block the bullet, huh?”

“Shean,” Don said, without turning his head. “Stay out of this!”

“Don’t worry, Don,” Shean replied. “I figured it out. The amulet only protects its wearer from magical attacks.” BANG! BANG! BANG!

Hidalgo waved his wand lazily. The bullets stopped in mid-air, still spinning.

The masked man laughed again. “By Merlin,” he said looking sideways at Don, “I am astounded by the level of stupidity your so-called defenders have.”

Don wanted to break away from his chains. But he was wandless and any movement would cost him his head. He swore under his breath again. Of course he knew that non-magical weapons would surpass the magical barrier woven around Hidalgo. But this was Hidalgo they were talking about. Even without the amulet, he was still a formidable wizard to fight against. He hoped Shean would abandon the gun and use his wand. At least he’ll have a chance of getting out alive.

Hidalgo turned the bullets around with a movement of his wand. The still-spinning bullets now faced Shean.

“Let me tell you why it is a bad idea to use Muggle weapons against wizards…” he said in a sinister whisper. “Immobulus!”

“Protego! ” Don heard Shean yell. He let out a sigh of relief. At least he had the sense to use his wand now.

Hidalgo cackled. “And I was beginning to think you’re a Squib. Oppugno.”

Don heard the bullets split the air molecules as they zoomed again. He heard them strike concrete, pierce skin, and shatter bone. He heard Shean’s gurgling breath as blood spurted out of his mouth. Then he heard Hidalgo give out a startled cry and then a laugh.

“Pathetic…”

Don saw Hidalgo return to his field of vision. His brow knotted when he realized something was wrong. Hidalgo was no longer wearing his mask. Bits of bone stuck to his messy hair.

“He managed to Repel a bullet and it hit my mask,” Hidalgo said, answering Don’s expression. “Now, back to business.” He came closer to Don.

Despite the fact that Don already knew what Hidalgo looked like behind the mask, he still drew breath when the face came into view. The nose was like his, even the eyes. The eyebrows and the lines of his lips were almost identical to Don’s. But the jaw was a bit stronger, and covered in stubble. And the hair was longer and messier. He was also a foot taller. But if one gave Hidalgo a passing glance, he would have been completely convinced that he saw Don Rage.

“What?” Hidalgo said, smiling Don Rage’s smile. “Don’t like my face? Hate to break it to ya, but it looks way better than yours.”