Alex had a bold plan in mind, he intended to wipe out all of the Silver Wand's magical creature breeding bases. He knew that once those magical creatures disappeared, the entire club would descend into chaos. Without their supply of magical beasts, the Silver Wands would be forced to face some uncomfortable truths.
These creatures weren't just rare and exotic, they were the main ingredient for the elixir the members relied on to extend their lives. Alex had always looked down on them for that. To him, it was a cowardly way to cheat death, draining the life force of magical animals just to buy a few more years.
If the breeding bases were destroyed, the pressure would be immediate and brutal. The Silver Wands, already a group built on shaky alliances and mutual distrust, would likely turn on each other. With no access to the elixir, panic would set in.
Some might even start "eliminating competition" to stretch out their remaining doses. Alex could already imagine it, another civil war erupting within the group.
Even if things didn't spiral that far on their own, he wouldn't hesitate to stir up trouble. His Thunderbird persona already had a reputation for being wild and unpredictable, so if he needed to play the part of the troublemaker and drive a wedge into the club from within, he was ready.
But there was more to his plan than just sowing discord. Alex also hoped that by creating a major crisis, he could draw out the Horned Basilisk, the elusive mastermind behind the scenes.
This mysterious figure had been pulling strings from the shadows for too long, and Alex was determined to track him down. He hadn't forgotten the real reason he came to Germany in the first place, to hunt this bastard down and bring him to justice.
Still, as solid as his plan seemed on paper, putting it into motion was going to be anything but easy. There were three breeding bases in total, and each one was massive, comparable in size to the magical zoo Newt Scamander kept.
The number of magical creatures in each facility was staggering. Even with his enchanted suitcase, which could hold an entire base's worth of animals if packed tightly, there was no way he could handle all three alone.
That meant one thing, he needed backup. And not just a few people. He'd have to call in serious reinforcements if he wanted any chance of pulling this off.
When he launched the attack on one of the magical creature breeding bases, even though he had already set up various jammers to block communication and prevent the news from spreading, he knew it wouldn't stay hidden for long. Once word got out, the other two bases would likely either relocate quickly or tighten their security. That's why the key to this entire operation was speed.
Everything needed to be done fast and efficiently, whether it was destroying the enemy, securing transportation, or relocating resources. Every step had to be carried out with maximum precision and urgency.
As for why the team wasn't split into three groups to strike all the bases at once, Alex had his reasons. It would've been far too risky. These weren't just small-time smuggler hideouts, they were large-scale breeding facilities for magical creatures, many of which were extremely dangerous.
To move just a dozen of these creatures, the Silver Wand group had to send more than a hundred smugglers, not only to guard against outside threats but also to keep the magical beasts under control.
These creatures weren't easy to handle, and it took a lot of manpower to keep them from breaking loose. When it came down to it, the real danger in these zones wasn't the wizards guarding the place, it was the creatures themselves.
But Alex found himself in a bit of a tricky situation, he couldn't exactly explain to others how he managed to uncover the locations of all three of Silver Wand's magical creature breeding bases. After all, he'd only been in Germany for a few days.
While the discovery of the first base could be somewhat justified, he'd located it through his telepathic connection with the little Thunderbird, the other two were harder to explain. Finding three hidden facilities in such a short time seemed almost too good to be true, and that could raise suspicion.
So, Alex came up with a plan. He decided to focus on raiding the first base first. Once they had control of it, he'd extract the locations of the other two bases from the memories of the guards stationed there. That would make the following operations appear more natural and less suspicious.
As for whether someone there would actually know the addresses of the other sites, well, that didn't really matter to him. If no one knew, he could always fabricate a memory or two. It wouldn't be the first time he'd altered someone's memories to fit the narrative.
Although the plan was set, the execution required thorough preparation. First, he needed to scout out the layout of the breeding sites to understand how many people were guarding each one, how big the facilities were, and how many magical creatures were being held.
Then, he'd have to prepare enough sedative potions to subdue the animals without harming them, along with magical signal jammers to cloak the entire base during the operation. On top of that, Alex had to figure out the general movements of the Silver Wand operatives ahead of time, if too many of them happened to be on-site during the raid, things could spiral out of control quickly.
To stay organized, Alex began by drafting a detailed schedule on a piece of parchment. He then wrote a coded letter to Newt back in England.
In the letter, he mentioned that he had located the little Thunderbird and stumbled upon a large number of other magical creatures. He didn't go into too much detail, but he did ask Newt to prepare a team of people and a generous supply of potions, just in case he needed help at a moment's notice.
With that taken care of, Alex turned his attention to setting up the magic surveillance system. He linked the monitors to the Silver Wand headquarters and also tapped into the homes of several individuals of interest, Phoenix, Moke, and Golden Snidget. Stakeouts like this were always tedious and, frankly, boring, but they were necessary.
For now, the surveillance feeds showed no suspicious activity, not even at the Silver Wand headquarters, which was his top priority at the moment. But Alex knew better than to let his guard down, he just had to be patient and wait for the right moment to strike.