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"The Tesseract is in your hands? You actually kept a piece of cosmic history—a potentially infinite energy source—a secret from me?" Hermione's voice, though cold, was laced with an undisguised, strategic fury. She wasn't angry about the secrecy; she was angry about the principle, about the failure of her intelligence access.
Nick Fury gripped the phone, swallowing his pride. He had known this moment would come. The Tesseract was too big, too important.
"Is this the level nine clearance you granted me, Director?" Hermione's tone was pure sarcasm. "To be told about a cosmic artifact only after it's been lost? It seems your trust is as robust as your security protocols."
Fury took a deep, weary breath. "The situation is urgent, Miss Wizard. I apologize for the necessary compartmentalization. I will compensate you generously, but for now, we need to focus on recovery."
"Focus on recovery," Hermione repeated flatly. "Why are you calling me? I didn't steal it."
"Because you know the thief," Fury said, his voice dropping to a grim whisper. "Loki."
Hermione paused. The silence on the line was profound. "Loki?" she finally asked. "But… wasn't that idiot sucked into the cosmic void after your bridge blew up? You're telling me he's back?"
"I hoped he was gone forever," Fury admitted. "But he's not. He's back, and he has the Cube."
"Director Fury," Hermione said, her voice turning icy with resolve. "You violated the terms of our agreement when you withheld such crucial information from me. I am not your clean-up crew for a disaster you orchestrated. Find your own cosmic cube. And stop bothering me."
With a crisp pop, the phone line went dead. Fury stared at the receiver, a look of profound, professional frustration settling over his face. He'd been outplayed and abandoned.
Hermione's form twisted in the air, and she materialized with a faint shimmer in the luxurious, high-tech comfort of the Stark Tower apartment.
"Little Hermione!"
Pepper Potts was on her in a second, enveloping her in a fierce, tight hug. The genuine maternal relief radiating from Pepper was overwhelming. "You've been gone for days! I was so worried! Where did you go?"
"Oh, Sister Pepper, you'll never believe it," Hermione sighed, her voice all soft complaint as she let herself be fussed over. "School has been utterly insane. The Defense Against the Dark Arts coursework is brutal this semester, and old Dumbledore is keeping us busy."
The source of her worry, Tony Stark, chose that moment to chime in over the apartment's internal comms, his voice distorted by the comms in his Iron Man helmet.
"Just a minute, Pep! Don't let the kid distract you! I'm still working hard down here! Jarvis, what's the underwater pressure reading on the new conduit?"
Pepper smiled, patting Hermione's shoulder. "I'm sorry, honey. Tony's been underwater all day, installing the new module for the arc reactor's clean energy supply. He's quite proud of himself."
"He should be," Hermione admitted internally. Tony's transition to green energy was a remarkable feat of engineering and conviction.
"You won't believe the chaos this year," Hermione continued, returning to her complaints. "There was a giant snake. A Basilisk. In the walls. It was petrifying students left and right. The entire school was in a panic."
"A snake?" Tony's voice cut in, suddenly interested. "Is that the wizard version of Medusa? Did people turn to stone?"
"It's much more powerful than Medusa," Hermione retorted, rolling her eyes. "Indirect eye contact petrifies; direct eye contact kills. And yes, many students were attacked. It was all highly inconvenient."
Pepper's smile vanished. She grabbed Hermione's shoulders and began a careful, maternal inspection, her hands checking for wounds. "You faced that? Are you hurt? Did you see it? You promised me you would be careful!"
"I'm fine, Sister Pepper, honestly," Hermione said, gently pushing her away. "The entire crisis has already been resolved. But it was quite the headache, I can assure you."
She looked around the comfortable, high-tech apartment, then down at her clean, capable hands. It felt good to be back among the living, the technological, the human.
"Hey, hey, hey!" Tony's voice roared from the comms, clearly having heard enough. "That's enough employee downtime! I'm still working my butt off down here! Can we at least respect the workers, please?"
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