Recommendation: Story recommendation for this chapter is "The Power He Knows Not" by Steelbadger. In this HP/LotR crossover, Harry has tried to make a life for himself in a strange land after having given up on finding a way back to his home and friends in Britain. It's a life spent in seclusion, though, and when war arrives at his doorstep, he has to choose whether to get involved — and whether to start living again, as opposed to merely existing. Harry/Éowyn.
Chapter 9 - Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots
Flushing Meadows, New York. Late August, 2009. 6:05 PM.
With Iris having apparated away, Hermione could focus on keeping Pepper safe as they left the pavilion. That was when all hell broke loose as the Hammer drones began firing on Iron Man, who had launched himself up and out of the building to avoid fighting Rhodey in a crowded presentation hall. The drones didn't care that they were firing through a glass roof, causing thousands of pounds of razor-sharp glass to rain down on the unprotected audience.
Casualties from that alone were tremendous, and it was only the Protego shield which Hermione quickly cast that kept the two women from being numbered among them. The small part of her mind that was not caught up in the chaos around them noted that her shield was definitely larger and stronger than usual, which was fortunate given how much glass was raining down on them.
As they moved, Hermione looked around in mute horror as she saw all of the blood and injuries caused by Justin Hammer's latest and most dangerous creation. If this is how he proposes to defend the United States, Hermione thought, perhaps I should count myself lucky that I'm not an American.
"We need to get backstage," Pepper shouted, trying to be heard over all the shooting and screaming.
"What?" Hermione asked. "We need to find safety!"
"No," Pepper insisted, "we need to get backstage. That's where Hammer should be with the computers controlling his drones. There we can find out what's happening and maybe establish some control over the situation, saving lives."
Hermione bit her lip in hesitation, but only for a moment. Then she nodded and accepted Pepper's argument as she began leading the way to the backstage area to find Justin Hammer and get some answers — even if they had to beat those answers out of him. Maybe I can use a little subtle magic to force Hammer to talk, she thought, mentally running through her options. I can't cast spells in front of muggles, but Iris has been able to do a lot with magic to enhance her physical abilities. Maybe I can as well? I wish we'd had more time to work together before I got caught up in helping Tony again! We couldn't even determine for sure that I was magically stronger — only some of my spells are a little stronger, and not even all of the time.
That line of thought was cut short as she and Pepper discovered how difficult it was to walk in high heels across ground covered in blood and broken glass. It was a discovery that both women wished they could forget.
Stark Expo, Exterior Grounds. 6:08 PM.
Iris had apparated to the top of a nearby pavilion. Between crouching down on the top of the dome and the darkness of the night, she was all but invisible as she watched Tony fly up into the sky with Rhodey close behind. Then she watched as the glass ceiling of the pavilion she had just left collapsed in on itself due to all of the drones shooting out at Tony.
Iris was sorely tempted to immediately apparate back, but she held off, reminding herself that she needed to trust Hermione. Now if she and Pepper can get themselves to safety, she thought, I won't have to worry about them at all and can instead concentrate on the ridiculous robots.
Taking out her tactical headset with bone-conducting earpiece and microphone, she connected it to the tiny radio which was already set to a private frequency Tony used for his Iron Man suits. "Hey, Tony," she said, slipping it on her head. "You there?"
"Iris! I'm glad to hear you," Tony responded. "Wait a sec, let's make this a conference call. Jarvis, patch Iris and Rhodey into the same frequency."
"Done, sir," came the AI's voice.
"Rhodey," Tony continued in his best DJ impersonation, "we have a special guest on the line!"
"Hey, Rhodey," Iris announced herself. "Where are you two boys, anyway? I'm atop the Stark Smartphone pavilion. I didn't bring my broom, so I won't be able to help you in the air."
"Broom?" Rhodey asked in a disbelieving voice. He knew she was a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, but he knew nothing about the magical world or Iris' status as a witch. That had been classified at the highest levels by Nick Fury: he was willing to let her use her birth name, but he wanted the true nature and full extent of her powers kept secret for as long as possible, both to retain a tactic advantage and to avoid complaints about breaking the Statute of Secrecy. Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned my broom after all, Iris realized.
"I'll explain what I can later, Rhodey, don't worry about it," Tony said. "We're passing over a parking lot right now, Iris, and..."
"Tony!" Iris suddenly said. "I have multiple drones launching out of your original pavilion. Let me see what I can do." Pulling out her wand for the sake of accuracy, she pointed it at the drones but hesitated. She looked around at the ground and saw dozens of civilians watching the drones as well. Too many witnesses right now, she thought. "Sorry, Tony," she said next, "but they're too far away to hit any of them, and I've got too many witnesses anyway. I counted at least three dozen, and they're all headed in the same direction I saw you fly in."
"No worries, Iris," Tony said.
"I won't be lonely, though," Iris responded. "I'm seeing another dozen or so marching out of the pavilion. I think they're setting up to provide ground support for the fliers."
"Can you take any of them out for us?" Tony asked.
"Count on it," Iris said confidently as she started vanishing her outer clothing, revealing her skintight, black working outfit, black boots, and the black gloves which she started pulling on. Soon her entire body was like a hole in the night, leaving only her face and dark red hair to signal that there was a person standing there.
"Tony, how is she going to stop even one of these drones?" Rhodey asked. "These drones are military hardware, designed to survive in the middle of an active battlefield. Any one of these drones is supposed to be able to take on an entire company of human troops."
"Don't worry about it," Tony said offhandedly. "She's more than capable — she needs to not be seen, if she can help it. Let's you and me worry about all those incoming bogeys and let Iris worry about what's still on the ground."
Rhodey felt a surge of irritation, knowing that once again he was being kept out of the loop. He'd recently been getting a funny feeling about Iris and Hermione and thought maybe he was picking up on the fact that they were angling to become a couple. Now, though, he wondered if perhaps it was his gut telling him that there was something different and even dangerous about those two women — which would be odd, given that Hermione was simply a research scientist, as far as he could tell.
He shook his head. No time to worry about that now, he told himself. He might just be along for the ride as far as his suit was concerned, but there was tactical information on the drones which he could provide Tony with from the inside — at least until they figured out how to regain control of the damned thing.
As Hermione and Pepper entered the backstage area, leaving bloody footprints in their wake, Hermione was almost vibrating with pent-up anger. She hadn't seen that much blood and death since the final battle at Hogwarts, and at the time she'd hoped to never see the like again. Soon they could hear Justin Hammer arguing with someone. "What do you mean, he locked us out of our own mainframe? It is our mainframe, isn't it?"
"And who exactly locked you out of your mainframe, Justin?" Pepper asked.
"Oh, not you," Justin whinged. "Just go away. Thank you." Turning to the man at the computer he had presumably been arguing with, he added in a lower voice, "Can we get security to remove these bitches from the area?" It wasn't nearly low enough to not be heard, though.
"Who's behind this?" Hermione demanded. After hearing Hammer's comments, she now had a legitimate target for her anger and was waiting for him to say the wrong word.
"Who are you, again, missy?" Hammer asked, his voice dripping with condescension.
That was the word.
Channeling her magic into her right arm like she had heard Iris describe, Hermione grabbed Hammer by the front of his shirt, lifted him in the air, and slammed him against the wall hard enough to crack the wood paneling. Feeling much angrier than she expected to, she leaned in closer to Hammer and growled, "Tell me. Now. Who is behind this?"
The expression on Hammer's face cycled between fear and shock as he stammered out, "V-vanko! Ivan Vanko!"
"He's still alive?" Pepper asked incredulously.
"Sure, he's working for me."
"And where is he working for you right now?" Hermione demanded.
"I have a facility in East Rockaway!" Hammer cried out as he felt himself being pushed deeper into the wall.
"Thank you," Hermione said as she let Hammer drop to the ground. Turning to Pepper, she said, "I'm heading out there to see if I can stop the drones at that end and maybe catch Vanko as well. Let the others know if you talk to them, OK?"
Pepper nodded as she pulled out her cell phone and asked for the police. "No!" Hammer cried weakly from the floor, but he was ignored by everyone else in the room. After she was confident that the police were on their way, Pepper stepped over to the computer and asked the man there to walk her through the problem he was having.
That... felt good, Hermione thought as she exited out the back of the pavilion. I'm surprised it worked so well, since it was my first attempt, but maybe it's not as hard as Iris made it out to be? She doubted I'd be able to do it because she assumed her ability to add magic to physical acts is a consequence of her expanded magical core infusing her entire body... but what if the truth is much simpler?
Hermione suddenly had an epiphany. Iris needed to learn how to do it because she wanted to avoid using spells; most wizards and witches are lazy and use spells for everything, so perhaps she was the first who tried hard enough because she needed it badly enough? One more thing to investigate...
As she approached the car they'd arrived in, Happy jumped out and said, "I can't get anyone on the phone. Do you know what's happening?"
"Get in and drive. I need to get to the Hammer Industries facility in East Rockaway."
"What? No. I'm not driving anywhere," Happy protested.
"Then give me the keys and I'll drive, because I'm going one way or another," Hermione responded, her voice cold and commanding. She hadn't yet let go of all the anger from dealing with Hammer and was short on patience.
"Fine," Happy said resignedly. "I'll drive. East Rockaway, you said?"
"Yeah," Hermione replied as she jumped in the back seat. "Try the Cross Island Expressway. Since all emergency and police units will be heading for the expo, you probably don't need to worry about getting a speeding ticket." Happy grinned — Tony didn't often let him drive fast in the course of his chauffeuring duties.
Once they had left, Hermione noticed a bag sitting on the seat next to her and remembered Iris' comments from earlier that evening during the trip to the Expo: "Hermione, this might not be necessary now, but it will probably be necessary eventually. This bag contains a bodysuit like mine, designed to fit you, complete with boots and gloves. There's also a special radio and microphone that you can use to keep in contact with me and Tony." Hermione had tried to refuse it, but Iris insisted, saying that it might save her life if she got into trouble.
Hermione had left it in the car, not giving it another thought. Now, she was glad that Iris had had the foresight to prepare it for her. As quickly as she could manage in the cramped confines of the backseat, she started to undress.
With a soft pop, Iris apparated to an awning above and behind the drones that were setting themselves up on the steps in front of the pavilion. The increase in screams behind her told her all she needed to know about how badly things were going for the innocent bystanders so far... and that it would only get worse the longer these machines were allowed to run free. The only good thing about their destructive tendencies was that people would run away from them instead of standing around gawking, which meant she wouldn't have any muggle witnesses for what she was about to do.
Iris waited until they had bolted themselves to the concrete, stabilizing themselves before using the large cannon mounted on their backs. Once locked in place, they were unable to shift and direct their fire at her. With an incantation of "Confringo!" she used explosive blasting curses to take off the heads of the drones, one by one. She had the entire back row and half of the front decapitated before any of them started reacting, finally craning their narrow heads around to look behind them. The last one finally looked right at her before its head exploded in a shower of sparks and debris.
"Tony," Iris spoke into her radio, "ground support has been neutralized."
"Thanks," Tony replied. "See what you can do for the civilians and casualties. I'm going to try leading Rhodey and the other drones away from the Expo."
"Copy," Iris said, not wanting to tell Tony that whoever was still alive might already be too far gone for even her to save. She'd try anyway, though.
Hammer Industries, East Rockaway, Long Island. 6:15 PM.
Ivan Vanko took off his glasses and leaned in close to the frozen image on the monitor, examining the face of the one he was certain had been responsible for destroying two entire platoons of his drones in mere minutes — despite having no obvious weapon in her hands. It looked like the same woman Stark had brought on his visit to the French prison, which meant that she was helping him.
He had known even then that something was not right with her. He didn't understand what it was and he didn't even know how he knew it, but he definitely felt that there was some sort of wrongness there. It hung about the redhead like a cloak of shadows and pain.
"There you are, suka," Vanko whispered to the monitor. "Who or what are you? What is your relationship with Tony Stark, hm?"
He had been hoping that they would meet again because he was looking forward to learning all he could about the redhead. He was quite sure that she wouldn't enjoy a second of it.
Stark Expo, Exterior Grounds. 6:20 PM.
The paramedics and civilians with medical training were doing all that could be done for the wounded and dying inside the pavilion, so Iris moved back outside to see what she could do to support Tony. Although he had led the drones away from the expo, they ended up driving him back, and the collateral damage from their repeated passes was mounting constantly.
Where she could, she cast shields to protect civilians, whether from stray rounds that missed Tony or from the falling debris resulting from the fight. Occasionally she would find a chance to take pot shots at the drones when they flew by, but she had yet to hit any of them — they were simply flying too fast for basic combat spells, and she hadn't yet figured out what to try instead.
Then she suddenly got an inspiration for how she could at least help Tony in the air. "Tony," she said over the radio, "if I did something to interfere with their heat sensors, would that help you? Would it hurt you?
"I think it's worth doing," Rhodey responded.
"I concur, sir," JARVIS added. "The drones appear to use heat sensors for their primary navigation systems. Without their heat sensors, they will have a harder time targeting you, but you will not be impeded."
"OK, Iris," Tony announced, "the consensus is to try it."
"Copy," Iris responded before kneeling down in the middle of a pile of rubble that was hidden in the shadows of a dark, deserted walkway.
Inanimate-to-animate transfiguration was an OWL-level skill. Mass inanimate-to-animate transfiguration was a NEWT-level skill. Inanimate-to-animate transfiguration where the target was a magical creature was supposed to be impossible. And doing it in a large quantity, all at once? That had never even been considered.
But Iris Potter didn't know that, which was probably why she didn't think twice about trying. Constantly cycling through the proper wand movements and chanting the right incantation over and over while focusing on her target animal, Iris pushed her magic hard to complete the mass transfiguration. The concrete and steel rubble around her began to quiver, then shake, then it rose into the air and seemed to turn to liquid as it began to impossibly shift. Some pieces grew in size; others shrank. All began growing wings, feathers, tails and beaks.
Finally, Iris was surrounded by dozens of birds covered with red and orange feathers while wisps of flame moved up and down their bodies. Waiting until she could hear the sound of the drones approaching as they headed for the large steel globe at the center of the expo, she cried out "Oppugno!" and the massed phoenixes all rose into the air, straight into the path of the drones.
Between the interference created by the red-hot temperature of the phoenixes and the damage caused when some of the phoenixes decided to attack the drones directly, almost all of them lost control and went tumbling into the steel globe, causing most of the drones to be destroyed.
She was shocked when a familiar but unexpected voice came through on her radio: "Hello? Is anyone there?"
Cross Island Expressway, Long Island. 6:22 PM.
"When we get there, Happy, I want you to watch the outside of the building while I go in to deal with Vanko," Hermione said as she eased out of her skirt and started pulling on the bodysuit which Iris had made for her. This thing is skin tight and as hard as armor, yet still stretchy and glides on like liquid, Hermione thought to herself. I have got to find out what spells Iris used on this!
A sudden blaring of another car's horn and their own car swerving on the road broke Hermione out of her musings. "Keep your eyes on the road, Happy," Hermione growled. "Or I'll tell Iris."
"Yes, ma'am," Happy replied dutifully, even as he re-adjusted his rearview mirror for a better view.
After she was completely changed, she reached into the bag and pulled out the small radio. A quick look at the instructions told her to put the tiny bone mic into her ear, run the wire along her collar, and plug it into the radio which attached at the back of her neck. Once it was set up, she turned it on and said uncertainly, "Hello? Is anyone there?"
"Hermione!" came three voices almost simultaneously, though Hermione only perceived two and thought she was simply talking to Iris and Tony.
"What are you doing?" Iris asked her.
"I'm with Happy," Hermione replied. "We're on our way to Little Rockaway, where Hammer has a facility. He told me that Vanko is working there and is apparently responsible for the drones going berserk. I figure I might be able to shut down the drones from that end, saving all of you a lot of work."
"What?!" Iris cried.
"What about Pepper?" Tony asked. "I thought you were watching her."
"I left her backstage with Hammer's people," Hermione explained. "She was going to try to see what she could do with the computers at that end and had already called the NYPD."
"It's too dangerous," Iris protested. "You can't go!"
"It's a good idea," Tony said. "Stay safe."
"It is not a good idea!" Iris bellowed. "Hermione, you need to get back here."
"No, Iris, I need to do this," Hermione retorted, getting annoyed and forgetting about Happy's presence. "I'm not a porcelain doll that needs to be protected all of the time. As a fully qualified witch, I'm quite capable of taking care of myself, especially against one muggle. I managed for years without you around, after all, and if you'll remember, I may even be a bit better now than I was a few months ago."
"This is different," Iris insisted. "Vanko is dangerous. I don't want you going up against him at all, much less alone. I don't want you getting hurt by that madman."
"Iris Potter, I'll have you know that you are not my boss and I don't take orders from you," Hermione said, clearly angry now. "My actual boss has confidence in my abilities, and I'm sorry that you don't!" With that, Hermione turned off her radio entirely.
"How long?" she snapped at Happy.
"About ten minutes," he replied, moving his rearview mirror back to its standard position. He had enjoyed the view, but he didn't want to attract her obvious anger. He also had some things to think about — like what did she mean by "fully qualified witch," and what the heck was a muggle?
Hermione was soon deep in thought herself. At first she was simply mad that Iris didn't have faith in her abilities; soon, though, she started to realize that maybe she wasn't doing this simply because it was necessary, but also because she felt that she had something to prove. These last weeks with Iris had demonstrated to her that her green-eyed friend had progressed quite far in her combat skills since Hogwarts, whereas Hermione had let those skills languish. She wasn't any less skilled with spells, but her speed, accuracy, and overall fitness had declined through disuse.
Despite the fact that she was still clearly more knowledgeable when it came to things like magical theory, she had begun to feel inadequate in fighting, and that wasn't something she was comfortable with. Here, though, she had been gifted with an opportunity to prove that she could fight, too, just like Iris. Before she could follow that thought and consider its implications, however, they arrived at their destination.
Stark Expo, Exterior Grounds. 6:25 PM.
"Stark," Iris growled into her radio, "so help me, if anything happens to her, I'm taking it out of your hide."
"Hermione is a big girl, Iris," Tony protested. "She can make her own choices, and her idea is a good one."
"You encouraged her," Iris said. "She is not trained for combat. She hasn't had to fight in over a decade. She's not ready for this sort of thing, and she could easily get injured when going up against a madman like Vanko. Pray she comes back in one piece." Iris' radio then clicked off as she turned to focus her anger on the remaining drones.
"She didn't sound too happy with you, Tony," Rhodey said over the radio.
"Yeah, well, she'll get over it," Tony said dismissively. "What's your twenty?"
For an answer, Tony was knocked from the sky when Rhodey's suit slammed into him, causing them both to tumble down into an environmental pavilion filled with trees and grass.
Iris found a way to vent her frustration and attack the drones more directly. Abandoning her efforts to protect civilians, much less avoid being seen by them, she started apparating around the expo, from one rooftop to another, targeting drones both in the air and on the ground, paying no heed to where the pieces of damaged or destroyed drones fell. The collateral damage she caused was significant, but the eventual investigation would not be able to attribute it to her.
Creating a large number of magical animals out of rubble had required quite a bit of magic, and constant apparition was using even more, but she was oblivious to that as she continually launched explosive blasting hexes at one drone after another. It was slow, inefficient, and costly, but it was satisfying her anger, and that was all that mattered to her at that point.
Nearby, a raven sitting on a pile of rubble cawed as it ruffled its feathers, simultaneously attracted to and disturbed by the magic and emotions roiling off of the enraged witch.
Hammer Industries, East Rockaway, Long Island. 6:35 PM.
"Wait out here with the car," Hermione commanded as she leapt out of the vehicle before it even came to a full stop.
Happy tried to get out as quickly as he could to follow. "No way, I'm not staying here with the car. I'm not leaving you alone."
Hermione knew that Happy had no idea about her magic (having completely forgotten the things she had blurted out in anger during her argument with Iris) and so knew that she should be more tolerant of his desire to help. However, for reasons she couldn't fathom she just snapped, "Fine, but stay out of my way," as she stalked towards the door.
"What on earth are you wearing?" Happy asked when they came under the bright outside lights and he got a good look at her outfit. "Are those... are those scales?"
"Yes, as a matter of fact they are," Hermione said with a small smirk. "Snake scales, to be precise."
"Snake?" Happy asked incredulously. "How many snakes did it take to make that? And why would anyone bother? Snake skin isn't protective."
"Actually, it only took one snake," Hermione responded. "The same snake that Iris used to make her outfit, in fact, and I'm sure that there's enough to make a dozen more — bodysuits, boots, and gloves." As she said this, she raised one of her gloved hands and flexed the fingers, enjoying how it looked and felt.
"You're joking!" Happy said, but when Hermione turned to face him, he could tell that she was being serious.
"Nope, not joking," Hermione said. "It's basilisk hide, and the millennium-old basilisk this came from was about thirty meters long and five meters in diameter." She watched as Happy's face paled at the thought of any snake that old and large, and she wondered briefly why she seemed to be enjoying scaring him like that. "Basilisk eyes alone can kill with a look, and its venom is the deadliest poison on the planet. Iris killed this one with a sword when she was only twelve years old."
"Sonuva Bitch!" Happy said, still having trouble believing it.
"So if you still want to help," Hermione added with a touch of menace in her voice, "don't get in my way." She kicked open the front doors, startling a security guard who moved to stop them. She let Happy take care of him since he went immediately to intercept the guard. While he was doing that, she focused on the guards who started pouring out of the far doors.
With Happy otherwise engaged behind her, Hermione knew she could get away with using magic without being noticed by him. She didn't even think about drawing her wand, which was held securely in a special holster that Iris had integrated into the bodysuit's forearm. Almost instinctively, she threw both hands out in front of her and banished a dozen guards against the walls, knocking several of them out and cracking the plastic walls in the process. Wow, she thought, that was... new. How did I manage to do that? Wandless magic is supposed to be a lot harder.
Such self-reflection ended quickly when she saw that those not unconscious were trying to get back up. Hermione didn't give them a chance, pulling out her wand now and sending out multiple bludgeoning hexes to their faces and chests. Had she chosen to attack from closer range, they might have tried to hit her or been able to pull out a taser, but she was so far away while casting spells that they never even understood the nature of the threat, much less were able to find a way to fight back.
None of the other guards Hermione encountered fared any better as she moved deeper into the facility. Two were waiting for her as she walked around one corner, but a quick "Stupefy!" sent a stunner not just from her wand, but also from her left hand, dropping both guards before they even realized that they had engaged the intruder. At another intersection, three guards attempted to take her down together and got to within grappling range, but without even thinking about it, Hermione cast spells directly into their bodies as she grabbed them, rendering them unconscious as they flew into the walls.
Filled with an anger and determination that even she didn't understand, she continued her destructive march through the facility, daring anyone to try to stop her.
Ivan Vanko looked closely at the security monitor as the strange woman tore through the facility's guard force. "Shto vy?" he asked the empty room.
This isn't the same woman that I saw earlier through the drone — the woman I originally saw in the French prison, he noted. That woman took down two squads of drones without any obvious weapon, and in only a couple of minutes. This woman is taking down the security guards as if they were nothing, and without any obvious weapons.
Coincidence? he asked himself. Not likely. Time to suit up.
Hermione kicked in the door and stepped into the room with her wand raised while Happy followed right behind. It had taken him a while to finally beat that first guard, but when he had finished, he quickly caught up to her.
"There's no one here," Happy observed, looking all around for any more threats.
"The coward ran away," Hermione said, returning her wand to the holster and moving to the computer terminal.
"What are you doing?"
"From what I can see on this screen, it looks like Rhodey's suit has been hacked and is being controlled from here. If I reboot the operating system, he might get control of it again." Hermione explained. "Then I'm going to try to shut down the drones. If I can't do the second, Tony will at least have an easier time fighting with Rhodey on his side. Though... it looks like almost all of the drones are down anyway."
Happy liked the sound of that, despite being a little overwhelmed by the complex data flowing by on the terminal.
When the screen showed "Reboot Complete," she turned her radio back on. "Tony," she said, "I've rebooted Rhodey's system. With any luck, your friend should be back in a minute or two."
"Thanks, Hermione," Tony replied.
"And how are you doing?"
"This suit is showing much higher power output, and Mr. Stark's vital signs all look good," JARVIS cut in to say.
"I take it the new element is working well, then?"
"Yep," Tony said, "Not only is it not causing a bad reaction, but it reversed all the damage that the palladium had already caused."
"That might be due in part to the healing runes I etched into the outer housing of your reactor," Hermione pointed out.
"Hermione!" Iris called out, desperation obvious in her voice. "Are you OK?"
"Yes, yes, I'm fine," she responded. "I didn't have any problems, and Happy is here with—"
At that moment, Happy screamed and the connection cut out.
"Hermione!" Iris said, her voice now filled with fear. "Hermione!"
Hermione experienced a sudden feeling of weightlessness as she was pulled out of her chair and went flying through the air, hitting the back wall of the room with a dull thud. All of her concentration had been focused on the computer in front of her and the voices on her radio, so she never heard Vanko open a hidden door and step in wearing his new powered suit.
Hermione blinked rapidly and shook her head in an attempt to see properly, but when she looked around she could have sworn that two large powered suits were walking towards her, both with Vanko's laughing face sitting atop the shoulders. Growling, Hermione raised hands so she could hex each of the figures in front of her, but the blow to her head had slowed her down, and Vanko reached her first, picking her up and slamming her against the wall again, once more stunning her.
"I had hoped to get the other woman and interrogate her to learn her secrets," Vanko said in a leering voice, "but I think that maybe you have similar secrets, so I will talk to you. I learned many interesting interrogation techniques while in Russian prisons, most of them first hand. I look forward to sharing with you."
When Hermione again started to regain her bearings and tried to focus enough to come up with a spell to cast, Vanko slammed her into the wall yet again. "No, no, suka. I do not know how you do the things you do... not yet, at any rate. But I am sure that you will not be able to do them so long as you are disoriented, yes?"
Whatever was wrong with her head felt like it was getting worse, and on top of it all Hermione also felt like maybe she was getting sick as well. Concussion, she thought, and perhaps a serious one. If I don't get it together, though, who knows what else he might do to me.
Hermione had hit her head so hard and so many times by that point that it had taken nearly a full minute for those thoughts to coalesce, and by then Vanko had already carried her to the other side of the room and tied her to a chair.
"Now, suka, maybe you can tell me about yourself. What I most want to learn, though, is how it is that you and the other woman affect me the way you do. Every time one of you gets close, I can feel it in my head." Vanko pointed to the back of his head with his armored glove. "It's like a needle in my mind, digging in. Not too painful, but uncomfortable. I don't like it, and I want to know what you are doing to me. Then, we can move on to how it is you could take down the entire security force without any weapons."
Vanko leered at her again as he used a finger to lift up her chin. "You will talk to me, sooner or later. Sooner is more convenient, but later is good, too. More fun that way, I think, yes?" He then grabbed her left hand, secured by the wrist to the chair, and began to squeeze. "This is the part where you can scream, if you'd like. I don't mind at all — honest."
Hermione didn't say anything at first; she wasn't even aware of the pressure on her hand, at least until her bones started to break with a sickening crack. Then Hermione screamed like she hadn't screamed since that awful afternoon in Malfoy manor, over a decade earlier.
Vanko laughed and said, "Yes, that's it, I'm glad to see that you know how to scream. Maybe this isn't your first time? You'll be doing a lot more of that shortly, I promise you."
The intense pain overwhelmed Hermione at first, but it also brought her attention to bear on the problem in front of her. Almost instinctively, she began to push magic through her now-crushed hand. There was no structured spell or incantation, nor was there any conscious intent. Instead, it was raw magic fueled by pain and a desire for that pain to end. The large concentration of magic interfered with the electronics in the glove, preventing it from closing any further. The magic also tried to heal her hand, but because the glove hadn't moved away, her hand couldn't reform properly.
Vanko frowned, trying to figure out why his glove was malfunctioning, when a series of warning alarms sounded from the computer console to his left. Both of them looked over and saw the same thing: all of the drones showed as inoperative instead of deployed. This could only mean that Iris, Tony, and Rhodey had succeeded in eliminating the drone threat. Hermione wanted to cheer, but all that came out was a choked sob.
"Yob tvoyu mat!" Vanko exclaimed, releasing Hermione's hand, causing her to gasp in relief and further pain. Because she was no longer unconsciously pushing magic through her hand, however, it didn't start healing.
Looking back down at Hermione, he said, "I'm afraid that I'm going to have to cut this short. If I can, I'll return so we can continue our conversation." He then lowered the face plate on his armor and launched himself straight up through the roof, causing a great deal of debris to rain down on Hermione, producing further injuries.
Off in a corner, Hermione saw what looked like a crumpled body. When it seemed to move, she called out in a hoarse whisper, "Happy?" When it moved some more, she continued a bit louder, "Happy? Can you hear me? I'm over here."
Slowly, a head rose up and she could see now that it was indeed Happy, but he didn't look like he was in much better shape than she was. There was blood running down his face, and she was sure that one arm must have been broken, given its unnatural angle. "Happy?" she called again. "If you can get me untied, I'll help get us out of here."
Slowly, Happy pulled himself to his knees, but that was as far as he could get, so he crawled on one arm over to her chair. Between his teeth and one barely-functioning hand, he was able to release her bonds. She was thankful that it was her left hand Vanko had decided to crush, since that meant she was still able to use her wand — she was too tired and injured to risk mucking about with wandless magic.
After pulling out her wand, she cast a strong numbing charm on her left hand as well as on Happy's broken arm. He looked confused at what was going on and why his arm suddenly felt better, but she said, "Don't worry about it right now. Just trust that it will work."
She put her wand back in its holster and helped him stand up, then the two badly injured people slowly limped out of the room while trying to support each other.
"Next time," Happy said in a pained whisper, "I think I'll wait with the car."
"Yeah," Hermione agreed tiredly, "me too."