Disclaimer: Not mine

Chapter 5

Jupiter smiled as she picked up a photo frame, the picture had been taken almost two years ago, back when they were still at University. They were standing in a park, Harry's arms around her waist as she tipped her head back to look up at him. She didn't remember who'd taken it, but it was a good memory. She wrapped it in paper and put it in the box before sealing it and writing on the side so the movers would know where to put it once at her new apartment. Sometimes she wondered what it would be like if they were still dating, would they be engaged by now? Married? They loved each other, there was no doubt of that, but it wasn't the love you based a marriage on. The sex had been incredible but really, that was all that had stopped when they'd decided to break it off. They were still the best of friends, almost like siblings, so she was happy that dating hadn't ruined things between them.

She shook her thoughts off and got back to packing her small apartment. She had a tenant moving in soon, a student at the university. It was a good way to get continuing income, not that she needed it with how her inheritance continued to grow. She'd bought a bigger apartment closer to her brand new job at the Adler Planetarium. She was exited but also nervous, she hadn't worked anywhere except her Uncle's cleaning company. Harry had bemoaned not being able to hire her, but his new company didn't deal in Astronomy. Harry had taken his completed degree and started up a tech company last year and so far, it was doing very well. Magic definitely helped.

Hadn't that been a shock? Her ex-boyfriend and best friend was a dimensionally displaced Wizard and soldier. It hadn't changed anything between them, magic didn't make him any different, he was still just Harry. She just wished she could go back and give him a happier life.

Jupiter grinned as the last box was taped up before absently rubbing the skin behind her right ear, she couldn't feel a thing but hidden under the skin was an implant, just like Harry's. He'd embedded it last week and she was still getting used to the extra input, such as the text message that had just appeared before her eyes, it was from the moving company and they were downstairs. Soon they had swarmed her apartment, taking the boxes swiftly down to the truck for the drive across town. After a last look around she closed up and left.

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Harry sighed as he stared at the man currently unconscious in his office. His HUD was lit up with information on the man…who wasn't fully human. He wasn't sure what he was really, though it was hidden well. Harry had found him trying to sabotage some of the medical research that was working on a cure for AIDS and had decided to find out why but with this data he wasn't sure if he should risk dosing him with Veritaserum or not. He didn't want to accidentally kill him after all.

After some further scans he finally woke the man and forced the potion down his throat, never dreaming what he'd learn. Aliens…except not really. A human empire so vast it was almost impossible to imagine, with the Earth as nothing more than a farm. There was no way he was going to let that stand and he would die before allowing anyone to kill the entire population. This made his company even more necessary and important but also painted a massive target not only on him but his employees. He wiped the splices memories of ever meeting him and sent him on his way with a compulsion to disappear.

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Harry slipped invisibly through the rows of corn until a dilapidated farm house came into view. There were beehives everywhere, in fact they seemed to be what was keeping the house standing. It didn't seem the place where one would find advanced tech, but he'd seen way worse covers, especially in the magical world. He peered inside to see a young woman at a table, working on some sort of paperwork, just not on paper. Whatever it was, it was beyond a tablet or iPad. The girl looked up as some bees flew around her head and smiled and Harry blinked as he caught sight of her eyes, so she wasn't human, at least not fully. She was pretty and looked the part of a farm girl except for the tech she was using. An older man walked in and it was obvious they were father and daughter. He smiled and said something to her and she laughed before coughing, causing the man to frown but she waved him off. Harry watched a while before leaving, it seemed to him that they had settled on earth to simply live but the man was apparently an Aegis Marshall, here to make sure everything stayed legal. He'd looked into their business and found they sold very nice honey and also removed hives from people's places when they asked. Not what he expected from a space cop, but he did need to live while here.

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Jupiter laughed happily as Harry hit the mat, hard.

He blinked and then laughed and rolled back to his feet. "Nice move," he praised, subtly rubbing his tailbone.

"It's only taken five years but I finally I beat you!" She grinned, breathing hard.

"You've gotten close more and more often over the years," he assured her, going to grab a towel and toss her water bottle to her. "Plans for Christmas?"

"Just family and yes, you're invited as normal." She took a drink and then moved off the mats to clean up before collapsing on the couch while Harry cooked. She'd never moved in, even when they'd been together, but she still felt comfortable and at home in the townhouse. Although, her apartment was finally starting to feel like a home too.

"Remember how I said there's no magic here?" Harry asked as they ate, and she nodded. "Well I found something interesting a while back."

"Oh?"

"Aliens," he smirked, and she froze, fork half way to her mouth.

She lowered her fork, staring at him. "Excuse me?"

"Well, technically they're human just from outer space," Harry shrugged, and she grabbed her wine, downing it.

"Okay…start at the beginning," she demanded.

Harry laughed but began telling her everything that had made him suspicious over the years, ending with the splice he'd interrogated and then the bee farm.

"That's…I don't…" she shook her head, shocked and appalled by what she'd heard.

"I know. And if I have any say in it, Earth will never suffer a Harvest. I've warded the company buildings to keep them safe, plus employees' homes…we won't stop trying to push humanity forward. We'll at least have a fighting chance when I'm done."

"Unless an assassin gets lucky," she muttered, and he sighed but nodded.

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Jupiter looked at the sign-up sheet and hesitated before adding her name and then headed for her work desk. She hated needles, but it was for a good cause. She put it out of her mind for the next week until she turned up to find the Red Cross set up and waiting. Jupiter sat on the chair and watched as the machine was readied before the young man held out the needle.

"If you're squeamish you might want to look away," he offered sympathetically.

"I'm fine, let's get this done."

"Brave girl." He grinned and slipped the needle into the vein. "Okay so just stay still and enjoy the movie. Cookies and juice once you're done." He patted her shoulder and moved on to the next person waiting to donate. She watched the short cartoon, ignoring the strange feeling of her blood being removed. Once the bag was full the needle was removed, and the wound covered before she was moved to a seat at the table to eat and drink. The blood was labelled and stored for shipping to the blood bank to wait until it was needed. Once she felt fine it was back to work and at the end of the day the donation stands were packed up.

The blood was sent to the lab for testing to ensure it was usable and no one noticed when the details were scanned an extra time, but no record made of the scans even as somewhere an alert began to sound.

TBC…