Please let me know what you think. I've been sitting on this and the next chapter, because I'm unsure of the quality. I think I edited this one a ridiculous amount.
"Who the fuck are you?" Fury demanded after realizing he could speak again. She merely looked at him while twirling the "tesseract wand" between her fingers, unsure if he was simply shocked by her "sudden" appearance or he was actually confused.
"Who are you to wield the scepter?" Thor asked from across the room. "You are not Asgardian."
"I am Hermione Granger," she answered bristling at his tone before sneering at him. "As if your brother is the only one worthy to wield a magical object. Bloody bigot." Why did it always came down to blood? "Even while threatening my life, your brother displayed more courteous manners. Perhaps you'd be better behaved as a kneazle. "
"Of what creature do you speak?" Thor asked confused glancing to the others around the room.
"Mythical feline," Stark answered crossing the room towards Hermione. "Small, fuzzy, generally considered adorable. Test her. Personally I'd love to see if she could do it. Nice to see you again, Glinda."
"Tony Stark," he added as he reached out to shake her hand. "Pleasure. You've already met Cap, Goldilocks over there is Thor - our villain's big brother, Dr. Frankenstein of course, Agent Romanov, and let us not forget our fearless leader the airship pirate."
"Charmed," Hermione said desperately trying to contain her laughs at the various glares the group was giving him. Stark grinned at her again while ignoring Fury's stare down.
"Explain," Fury said looking at his Avengers. Hermione found herself staring at Rogers and Stark after she realized they hadn't reported her to Fury.
"Director, we may have..." Captain America said before trailing off and looking to Stark who shrugged.
"I just introduced her to the group," Tony pointed out; as though it absolved him from providing an explanation.
"Germany went a little differently than was initially reported," Agent Romanov answered exasperated with the two men.
"How differently?"
"While Rogers and Stark did engage Loki, they did not disarm nor apprehend him," she answered before nodding towards Hermione. "She did."
"I take it that you're the Witchling that Loki has become so enamoured of," Fury said turning back to look at Hermione, who momentarily grimaced. "I suppose that in addition to being responsible for the disappearance of the scepter, you're not going to tell me how you can wield it?"
"Right in one," she answered smiling at him as she continued manipulating the wand between her fingers.
"That is Asgardian property," Thor repeated looking between her and Fury. "My people have the right of claim."
"Not anymore," Hermione said unimpressed.
"Now see here Maiden," Thor interrupted speaking with the authority of an Asgardian prince. "You cannot steal Asgardian property…"
"My name is Hermione," she repeated. "Not maiden. I did not steal anything. I acquired the scepter, in battle, against your brother in front of witnesses, therefore you have no claim to it, to the victor goes the spoils. "
"If those are your terms, we will see how you fare in battle against me," Thor declared boldly as he mimicked her twirl of the scepter wand with his hammer.
"By all means," Hermione answered sweetly. "However, you should know that I plucked this scepter from your brother's grasp while he had it against my throat. Are you so sure I wouldn't take your hammer as well?" The Asgardian prince momentarily faltered at her confidence.
"Our people need to study that weapon," Director Fury said attempting to redirect the conversation.
"No. SHIELD has a nasty habit of weaponizing anything they get their hands on," Hermione answered shaking her head. "It's in everyone's best interest that it remains out of your grasp, pardon the pun." Stark promptly grinned at the joke and winked at her.
"It's necessary to stop Loki. We've already gathered everything that was related to the tesseract," Fury countered.
"I'm sorry Nick, what were you lying?" Tony inserted turning a monitor around so they could all see a schematic of a rocket. Hermione grinned smugly as she tipped her head to Tony and looked back at the Director for an answer who seemed rather lost for words .
"Did you know about this?" Dr. Banner asked Agent Romanov in an accusing tone.
"Do you want to think about removing yourself from this environment Doctor?" The redhead countered ignoring the question.
"I was in Calcutta. I was pretty far removed," Dr. Banner answered staring her down.
"Loki's manipulating you," Natasha said trying to dissuade him from his irritation.
"He's manipulating all of you," Hermione muttered conveying her disapproval that they had started fighting again. "Besides do you two ever stop flirting?" Captain America and Stark promptly shook their heads "no."
"And you've been doing what exactly?" Dr. Banner said ignoring Hermione's outburst.
"You didn't come here because I batted my eyelashes at you," Natasha said.
"Not that you don't want to do so," Hermione thought. "Merlin's saggy left nut just let me perform a handfasting already.
"I'm not leaving because you suddenly get a little twitchy. I would like to know why SHIELD is building weapons of mass destruction."
"Are you really that dense? SHIELD monitors potential threats. We are all on the threat watch!" Romanov said angrily before pointing at Hermione. "The only exception in this room is her, and that's simply because we just discovered her."
"You're on that list?" Stark suddenly asked Rogers. "Are you above or below angry bees?"
"I swear, Stark, one more wisecrack out of you.."
"Verbal threat! Threatening! I'm being threatened!" Tony said mockingly as Hermione and Romanov rolled their eyes.
"Morgana's arse," Hermione cursed catching everyone's attention. "SHIELD is terrified because they feel out of control. Like all humans, they assume violent solutions are the answer. Director Fury will blame Thor and the other Asgardians. In reality, it's simply human nature to build the biggest weapon and attack out of fear, which is why I won't hand this weapon over."
"You think I need you to hand it over willingly?" Director Fury asked her amused. Hermione sat up smiled at him.
"Director Fury, you are more than welcome to attempt to acquire it. In fact, I guarantee that you can study it for as long as it is in your possession," Hermione answered.
"You seem overconfident," Agent Romanov interjected. Hermione looked at her and promptly banished the wand silently to her wand holster, which had been magically expanded to hold the two additional wands. To her credit, Romanov did not show her shock, unlike her teammates.
"Agent Romanov, you only know my name because I provided it. Not a single member of your team knows what I am capable of, nor my history. I am not overconfident, I simply have more information. Now, as I've previously stated, we need to focus on the one thing which we all agree on: stopping Loki."
"Why are you so willing to help?" Captain Rogers asked suspiciously.
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing," Hermione answered. " she answered softly.
"You've read Burke," Steve responded, which earned a nod from Hermione.
"While gifted," she said, "I am still human. I am in a position to help those who cannot help themselves, and therefore am bound to do what I can."
"We're supposed to simply trust that you're on our side?" Director Fury asked. "How do we know you're not working with Loki?"
"Trust is a choice," Hermione answered before turning to Agent Romanov, Stark, and Captain America pointedly and jerked her head towards their boss.
"While Tony and Steve engaged with Loki that night, Ms. Granger was busy removing people from the scene. I later discovered that they all were transported to the closest hospital," Agent Romanov answered her boss. "It is my assessment that she is genuine in wanting to stop Loki."
"Besides, Loki was far too surprised," Captain America said.
"He didn't know what hit him," Stark added before admitting, "Still upset it wasn't me."
"You'll get your chance," Hermione promised with a wry grin. "Loki wants to watch the world burn, and I live here. If you don't want to believe me capable of altruistic reasons, then acknowledge that I have a survival instinct. Besides, you don't have the option to turn away assistance. Loki is successfully dividing you while sitting locked in a cell."
"Did we find out anything useful from him since he's been here?" Rogers asked.
"Aside for his current fascination with the Witchling," Director Fury said, "Not really. He spent the entire discussion demanding that I present the Witchling, as he put it, considering my team decided to withhold certain information, I was unable to use that to my advantage. Yet, I have the feeling that he is the only one who wants to be on this boat," Fury muttered.
"I'd ask what his obsession with me is, but I'm guessing he's a bit brassed off at losing to a girl," Hermione said. "Anyone have an angle we can attempt before giving into that demand?" Agent Romanov suddenly stood and nodded before abruptly leaving the room.
Director Fury looked over at Thor and asked, "Do you think you could make Loki tell us where the Tesseract is?"
"I do not know," Thor answered shrugging. "Loki's mind is far afield. It's not just power he craves, it's vengeance, upon me. There's no pain would prize his need from him."
"A lot of guys think that, until the pain starts," Fury said suggestively. Thor looked at him confused.
"What are you asking me to do?" Thor asked.
"I'm asking, what are you prepared to do?" Fury continued watching him.
"You're willing to gamble a lot on the assumption that torture actually works," Hermione said earning a dismissive look from Fury.
"It's been a useful tool before," he answered only to have Hermione shake her head.
"It's only as useful as the person under it," she answered. "Most people will lie to just make the pain stop. They will tell you whatever you want to hear, be it the truth or otherwise. You cannot trust the information that they give you."
"Ms. Granger, I think you might be a bit out of your depth here," Director Fury answered. Hermione calmly rolled up the sleeve of her right arm so that the bright red letters could be seen by everyone in the room.
"I have successfully lied under torture," she answered calmly. "It does not work, and I have significant doubts that it will work on Loki. There are ways to magically protect and damage the mind."
"So let's start with that stick of his," Rogers said before glancing at Hermione. "Sorry, I mean yours. It seems magical, but it works an awful lot like a Hydra weapon."
"I can assure you that it's magical," Hermione answered summoning the false tesseract wand George had created for her. "Loki prefers to wield it as a scepter or a cane, but I have it in the form of a wand. She opened the small beaded bag that she constantly had on her, and summoned the reports that the Ministry had produced in the short time it had to study the object.
"I don't know about that, but it is powered by the cube. I'd like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys," Director Fury said as he accepted the reports Hermione was distributing.
"Monkeys?" Thor asked confused. "I do not understand."
"I do!" Rogers interrupted excitedly. "I understood that reference." Hermione glanced over at Stark for help.
"Capsicle here was frozen for about ninety years. He's missing some pop culture references," Tony answered. Hermione nodded accepting the information. "What am I looking at here?"
"These are the readings I've done on the tesseract scepter since it came into my possession, and I've included the information that you've collected as well, specifically Mr. Stark and Dr. Banner's collaboration from last night," Hermione answered. Everyone paused to stare at her.
"Exactly how did you manage to get that information?" Stark asked suddenly suspicious. She looked at him amused.
"Weren't you in favor of SHIELD sharing all of their intel?" She asked him. He glared at her playfully, so she answered. "I was sitting in the room while you both discussed it feverently," she answered. Hermione couldn't help the grin on her face as she looked at both of them. Tony looked as though he was about to argue with her.
"Honestly, it was one of the most attractive sights I've ever witnessed." The effect was instantaneous, Dr. Banner turned bright red and Stark started preening as expected.
Turning back to the reports that she'd passed out, "You are right, in that they are linked to weapons, used by a terrorist group several decades ago. I'm pretty sure that they originally found the tesseract and weaponized it."
"How sure?" Fury asked her. "You seem pretty knowledgable about Hydra."
"I may have observed some of Tony's files while he was reading up in preparation," Hermione answered not glancing up from the reports.
"Exactly how long have you been stalking me?" He asked her torn between paranoia and flattery. She waved him off ignoring the question.
"As you can see from the reports, it's practically pure energy, specifically gamma radiation. However, there are several unknown properties intertwined with the infinity stone, allowing it to be handled. That said, any direct contact will result in oblivion."
"You are familiar with the stones, Enchantress?" Thor asked surprised.
"I'm extremely well read," Hermione answered with a shrug. "Specifically, when it comes to Norse mythology since I went to a boarding school in Scotland, and it was one of the field of studies. I believe that few people will be able to wield it as Loki and I do, without it being weaponized properly."
"Care to prove that?" Director Fury asked challenging her. Hermione grinned and threw the fake wand to Rogers who looked startled as he caught it.
"Will it to change forms," she prompted him. After several minutes of Rogers staring at the wand he frustratedly handed it to Stark, who had similar results.
"Satisfied?" Hermione asked as she summoned it back to her hand startling Tony who tried to grab it unsuccessfully.
"How are you doing that?" Dr. Banner asked looking at her.
"I'm magically inclined," Hermione answered mysteriously. "How do you control your anger?"
"Fair enough," he answered taking the hint with a wry grin. "Loki would have to heat the cube to a hundred and twenty million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb Barrier."
"Unless Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunnelling effect," Stark countered.
"Well, if he could do that, he could achieve heavy ion fusion at any reactor on the planet," Dr. Banner said. Hermione watched in amusement as Tony's face lit up at Banner's statement.
"Finally, someone who speaks English," he exclaimed reaching out to shake hands with Dr. Banner.
"That's what that was," Rogers asked as Hermione started staring at the tesseract wand in her hand. There was something they were missing. She looked up at Fury suddenly staring at him as though she'd just now seen him.
"You said he's happy to be here," she breathed suddenly realizing her mistake, all of their mistakes. Fury seemed to catch on immediately to her train of thought. "It's a trap, he wants something on this ship."
"All I know is that he plans on using Dr. Banner," Agent Romanov said. Before anyone can react, a violent explosion erupts in the helicarrier scattering everyone.