AUTHOR'S NOTE: JUNE 12, 2021

I know, I know I apologize once again for the late upload but summer vacation is just around the corner so once summer hits, posts sound be on time. This is a shorter chapter clocking in at 17 pages but I hope they are satisfying nonetheless.

Once again please follow my instagram page for this fic,.. I have heard that the name is glitching out, so if you want to follow it and the title isn't coming up, message me and I will send it to you.

Thank you to my Beta Luke, our marvel expert for editing this chapter. Luke who is the Sunny Dance Kid to my Butch Cassidy, the Dionne to my Cher, the Hitchcock to my Scully. (Yes, I will keep adding more every week because Luke HATES it).

Also we are looking for a ghost Beta for this fic. It's honestly becoming a lot for the 3 of us. We need someone that is good with grammatical errors, and is available to edit at the drop of a hat. If that applies to you, message me and we can talk about you potentially becoming one of our ghost writers!

Now for questions! If you have any pressing questions or just want to make some observations about the fic, ask any questions and I will try to answer them.

Lyra Casstiopeia black: Then I can't wait for you to read this chapter!

pendora59: I will not confirm or deny anything about Uncle Tom, you all shall find out soon enough. All will be revealed soon. I will say I do speak french very well, I have done french immersion for years. However my grammar is shit so I wish I could respond in french to your comment. But I do not want to offend you. My apologies.

crity2re: I really hope you keep commenting, because this comment truly made my week. Thank you for all of the ideas and I will be using them in the future. I hope you enjoy this chapter, since you were so excited for the introduction, you will be in for a treat.

Lu Yee: I don't know how I will include Crookshanks or if I will but this has given me something to seriously think about.

BrownEyesAngel: All will be revealed soon enough with Uncle Tom.

Stille und regen: Wow that was a lot to read and I love it. Much better than a generic "update soon" crap. Although I do love the encouragement guys. I love that you are enjoying it so far.

Akshata Rauthan1: I don't think it's weird because Howard and Bucky never really met or were close. It was Steve, Peggy, and Howard that were the close ones. Also Howard it's really around and Hermione never met him so I don't think it's weird at all.

I own nothing but the story line. If I owned Marvel or Harry Potter I would've starred in the films.

June 23nd, 2012 London, England (Helen's Funeral Tony's POV)

'It has been an emotionally draining day for all of us' Tony thought while their car drove them to the private section of the airport. Tony's phone rang, he pulled it out of his pocket and saw the name 'Agent' flashing across the screen. He had no idea what SHIELD wanted, but Tony was not going to be a part of that.

Coulson had been calling all day trying to get a hold of Tony, Pepper, or even Happy. However, none of them answered and SHIELD didn't have time to host a manhunt for the billionaire. Phil didn't leave any messages as per SHIELD protocol. Nothing is to be recorded and what was happening with the trickster god was something that did not need to be known.

Eventually after the 8th call in the middle of the funeral service, Tony turned his phone off. Pepper and Happy turned there's off as well. It wasn't until they were boarding the plane that the adults turned their phones back on. They saw all the missing calls from Phil or 'Agent' as Tony likes to call him.

They all came to the conclusion that it had been hours and whatever threat they were calling Tony for, was probably over. In that moment they knew Hermione needed them more than SHIELD did.

If only they knew how bad things were going to get.

June 23nd, 2012 Stuttgart, Germany (9:47 pm)

Tony opened his eyes and looked around. He was in Germany. They were in Germany. Then the nausea kicked in. Tony blanched and he heard Hermione giggle slightly beside him. He looked towards his daughter who only shrugged in reply.

"I told you, you'll feel sick once we land. You'll get used to it." Hermione explained, Tony smiled at his daughter's twisted sense of humor. Tony then heard the screams coming from outside the alley. He turned his head to look at the opening of the alley, leading to an open street, and saw people running.

"I've got to go-" Tony started before his daughter cut him off.

"Be a superhero." Hermione finished. "I'll be fine and stay in the alley. My guess is there are SHIELD agents already there, you remember what Sharon said. I can't risk being seen by them."

Tony saw his daughter take a deep breath before continuing. He knew that this situation was not easy for her. She just lost her parents and now less than 48 hours later, her father is getting himself into a very dangerous situation where he himself could very well die.

"J-Just be careful, okay?" Hermione said, looking up at Tony. His mask was up so that she could see that he was safe. Hermione reached up and gave Tony a hug which he returned to the best of his abilities but it was difficult given the mobility of the suit.

"I'll be fine. I'm Iron Man for god sake." Tony said with a smile, trying to build his daughter's faith that he will come back.

"You and I both know that being Iron Man means nothing if you aren't alert and careful." Hermione pointed out. Her scolding reminded her of the 'motherly rants' she would go on with Ron and Harry.

Tony felt for his daughter and wanted nothing more than to stay with her at that moment but all the billionaire could hear were the screams of innocent people. "I have to go, but I will be fine. Wait here and I will come get you. Okay?"

Hermione nodded and stood on her tippy toes once again to give Tony a hug. She wiped away a few stray tears that had sprung from her eyes at the thought of another parent being hurt or worse, dead. She stepped away but at the sight of her tears, Tony moved forward in concern.

"Go, Go. I'll be fine. Go save the world or whatever you do in that hunk of metal." Hermione said. Tony blasted a song from his 'Songs To Kick-Ass Too' and flew into the air making his entrance.

Once Hermione was sure she was out of Tony's view she walked towards the end of the alley and peaked her head out so that she could see what was happening. Tony just landed and it looks like they were right, SHIELD had personnel already there. It looked like...Captain America? But that was impossible, he and his friend James...Peggy said they both died in a plane crash. A move that led them to the ending of the war. There was another man beside him with what looked to be an all-black SHIELD uniform. However, there was one difference. The left sleeve was cut off and instead of a sleeve, there was a shiny sliver arm. The man had a short vintage-style cut that you'd expect to see in an old black and white film. She could see most of his face, the exception being sleek black goggles that covered his eyes.

Hermione couldn't get a great look at the two men seeing how far away they were. Tony raises his repolsters that were in his gauntlets up to Loki. The god raised his hands in surrender. This all seemed too easy. From the footage Hermione had seen, Loki possessed the gift of magic. So she wanted to watch this situation carefully. The god smirked before his staff began glowing, showing some form of transformation. A wand.

The young witch made a decision then and there. Dumbledore said that there was a prophecy involving her time away for the summer and her connection to Tony. This was it. This was the connection. She was going to have to help them.

Hermione pulled out her wand from her pocket and quickly transfigured her clothes. Her hoodie remained the same, it morphed into a bright blue colour, the sleeves being removed in the process, with a navy blue cap flowing behind her. The sleeves of her hoodie became red elbow-length gloves, and her boots turned into knee-length boots. Blue with yellow trim. To complete the look her pants became sheer grey tights, paired with a red skirt. To remain hidden Hermione conjured herself a full black mask that covered her chin to her nose. It didn't matter if it looked good, as long as it was functional.

She knew this was it. Sharon had warned her about SHIELD and not to get involved with them, but this was her thing. Magic. There was a person with magic. It was right up her wheelhouse and she could help. Hermione transfigured a rock that was beside her into a mask to cover her face. She knew Tony wouldn't be happy about her participating in this little adventure but Loki was troubled and she couldn't let Tony be hurt because of someone like her. Someone with magic.

The witch closed her eyes and crouched on one knee for a Stark flared entrance as she apparated in front of Loki.

June 23nd, 2012 Stuttgart, Germany (9:56 pm)

Hermione opened her eyes and stood up from Hermione's position. She had her arm raised, her wand in hand, pointed right in Loki's face. She paid no attention to the men behind her, including her father who were all confused out of their minds. Tony was confused for a completely different reason than the other two.

Why the hell was his daughter doing this? They had Loki. Sure they had seen the god do a little magic trick by changing the form of his staff but there was no reason for Hermione to be interfering.

"Put the wand down." The masked brunette demanded. 'British? Wand? Who is this Dame?' Hermione heard the Captain America look alike and the silver armed man said from behind her. Loki looked at the young witch with intrigue.

"You...You are different than these simple mid guardian fools." Loki stated. Hermione rolled her eyes at the comment. She'll show him the simple things.

"As I said, drop the wand and make things easier on yourself. We can do this the hard way if you prefer." Hermione said with more determination in her voice. Loki smirked in response.

"How about a counter offer then? I will spare your life in exchange for your loyalty to me." Loki offered, holding out his hand. A sickening smirk crossed his face. Hermione had had enough. Clearly, Loki wasn't going to give up himself or the wand very easily.

"Like I would ever join you. Guess we'll be doing this the hard way then." Hermione said, before Loki could drop his hand and prepare himself for what was to come the brilliant witch kicked the God's legs out from under him.

The God looked surprised before quickly recovering. He retaliated by swiping his wand at the witch. She evaded the spell, blowing up a sign in the process. Hermione sent a spell at Loki, sweeping his legs out from under him. The God and the witch both waved their wands at the same time, shooting out a red light and knocking the wands out of their opponent's hands. Hermione was suddenly very thankful that Uncle Tom had taught her basic hand-to-hand combat in order to protect herself. Loki went to attack her, but she ducked down to avoid the blow to the head. She retaliated with an uppercut to the chin, temporarily distracting him while she delivered a follow-up by a punch to the gut. Loki tried to punch her across the face, but she scissor kicked him to the ground. She quickly moved to pin him down using her body weight to keep him down.

The Captain America look alike came from behind her and cuffed Loki who was struggling from underneath her. Hermione stood up and the spangled striped man ruffley lifted Loki onto his feet. Hermione looked at the man she had just fought who was looking at her with pure hatred and disdain.

That was when Hermione realized what she had just done. She had exposed herself to not only SHIELD but the rest of the world. The witch began pacing and hyperventilating until she felt a heavy hand on her shoulder. Tony. She turned around to hug him which he returned. His mask lifted up so that when she pulled back he could see his face. The young girl eventually pulled away. Tony took her face in his hands:

"God, I don't know whether I am feeling angry or so fucking proud right now," Tony said, pulling her into one last hug. That is when Hermione noticed the Captain America look alike, the silver-armed man, and a new deep short-haired woman.

"Let's keep it as proud for now because it looks like we have an audience," Hermione said, pulling away as the three strangers stepped towards the father and daughter. Hermione could not get a read on them. They did however look confused but were doing their best to maintain a professional persona.

"Agent Romanoff," Tony greeted in his 'I'm tired of this conversation' tone. He looked towards the two men, "I don't believe I've met these guys yet."

"Stark." The SHIELD Agent greeted coldly. Hearing the name Stark made the two men behind the agent look at each other curiously. 'Interesting' Hermione thought. That was when the agent looked her up and down. "I didn't meet this one while I worked at your company. She a project of yours?"

Hermione did not like being referred to as a project. The witch also didn't like the insinuation that Tony genetically altered her.

"The Stark family hasn't genetically altered anything since Captain America, which was my father, not me. I would appreciate it if you didn't insinuate that my daughter is my personal lab rat." Tony said back to the women. He said it quietly enough that none of the media cameras that surrounded them would hear it. Not that it would matter since Hermione had cast invisibility wards around them and Agent Romanoff's ship ever since she had captured Loki.

I guess the cat was out of the bag at that point. It was weird for Tony to actually be telling people other than family and yes even though it wasn't official Pepper and Happy were family. The redhead's face faltered at the comment about being Tony Stark's daughter. The two men just fell into more confusion.

"Since when did you have a kid Stark?" The agent said, attempting to conceal her shock. But then again it really couldn't have been that much of a surprise considering how much Tony was getting around up until a couple of years ago.

"That's more of a recent development," Tony said simply. The agent looked Hermione up and down again.

"Doesn't look too recent to me." The agent countered. Hermione laughed slightly at the comment. The silver-armed man looked at her and smiled at the young witch. She looked up and caught his eyes. If he could have seen under her mask he would've seen that she was smiling back at him. There was something almost familiar about him. She continued looking at him until she decided to cut Tony off during his explanation.

"He didn't know about me until a couple of days ago. He got the life insurance notice for my parents. The reason Tony didn't know about me was because Obidiah Stane hid me from Tony. When Tony realized he had a kid who just lost her parents, he came to England to find me. We were flying to New York from the funeral when we heard about Loki. I apparated us here, and before you ask, apparition is basically teleportation. Did that answer all your questions for now? Because we really need to be getting back to" Hermione was cut off. She knew would have to be brought in. She was the only one who could truly bring Loki down. She was his equal and they needed someone that could control him if things went wrong.

"Sorry, but you'll have to come in with us. SHIELD will want a full work up of your...skills, we are going to need your help with Loki." The agent said, neither Tony nor Hermione made any indication of movement. Tony didn't move because this is exactly what he wanted to avoid. He wanted to keep Hermione off of SHIELD's radar. Less than a week into the dad thing and he'd already fucked up on one of his number one goals. Hermione didn't move because she knew she'd already broken Tony's trust by exposing herself to the world. She didn't want to break that trust any more than she already had. "We can bring you in by force if necessary."

"Romanov please," Tony bargained, Hermione realized then that Tony REALLY didn't want SHIELD to bring her in. He never begged or bargained with other people for anyone but himself.

"Stark, you know there's nothing I can do. SHIELD's most likely already got the footage and even if I let you go they know she has a connection to you. They'll find her faster than you can run." The agent said sincerely. The redhead clearly understood the hesitance to be brought in by SHIELD. Once you were on their radar, you would never be free from their grasp. "To them, she's a valuable asset,"

"Don't call her an asset." The silver-armed man said. "Sure she's got some tricks up her sleeve but she isn't a toy that SHIELD can play with." He turned to look at Hermione, "I'm sorry for your loss. You shouldn't have to deal with all of this right after burying your parents."

Hermione didn't know why it felt different for the silver-armed man to say those words to her. She'd heard them all day from her friends but it felt different for him to say it. "Thank you." She said to the man, there was nothing else she could really say. She turned to Tony. "She's right, you know. You and I both know how SHIELD operates, they won't stop looking for me. Might as well face the music now."

Tony gritted his teeth before saying, "Fine but the second this Loki shit is over we are gone and you don't bother her anymore."

"You'll have to speak with Fury on that one. I have no say in who is tracked and who isn't. Are we going?" The redheaded agent said. The Captain America look-alike walked beside her towards the ship. The silver-armed man stayed behind, he looked at Hermione and held out his flesh arm.

"May I?" He asked. Hermione looked at him like he was crazy but looped her left arm through his and walked towards the ship.

Tony stood in place with his mouth hanging out. Even with a mask covering half his daughter's face, he knew he was in trouble. Tony expected this, she was 17 after all but he did not want to deal with all the boy stuff this early on. Even though it was only a few feet away he flew towards the jet and stepped on board.

June 23nd, 2012 Aboard the Quinjet (10:13 pm)

"Mr. Stark," The Captain America look alike introduced, holding out his hand, Tony shook it firmly. "Steve Rogers."

Hermione snorted at the comment. This was no Steve Rogers, her grandmother told her everything about the harrowing tales of Captain America, including how he died. This 'Steve Rogers' looked at her for a moment like she had four heads.

"Is there a problem ma'am?" The Captain America look-alike asked her, confused.

"You are not Captain America, nor Steve Rogers. He and his friend died at the end of the second world war. My grandmother worked for the government, she would've known if they had survived. Besides Steve Rogers and his friend...James Barnes was it? Would be well into their 90's by now." Hermione said matter-a-fact.

"Up until a couple months ago, they were thought to be dead kids," Tony said to her. Hermione couldn't believe he was buying into this. SHIELD probably hired some fake wannabe agent to pretend to be Captain America. At her bemused look, Tony explained a little further. "Rogers and Barnes went down in the Arctic. My dad, your grandfather spent weeks searching for them but found nothing. The only thing they found was a thing called the Tesseract which I can only guess is what Rock of Ages took from SHIELD." Tony said, pointing to Loki. "A couple months ago I was looking through SHIELD's files and found that they not only recovered Rogers and Barnes, they revived them."

"The cold temperatures they were under acted as a makeshift cryogenic freezing." Hermione finished, she was dumbfounded. For the first time in Hermione Granger's life, she had been completely wrong. Tony almost laughed at her dumbfounded expression, he turned to look at Steve and asked: "Anything I missed?"

"I think you got it all covered," Steve said, looking at the girl's expression. He could understand where her confusion could come from.

"So you really are Captain America?" Hermione wanted to clarify one more time. The soldier nodded. 'Shit' Hermione thought. She wasn't an idiot she knew she looked like her grandmother Peggy and from what her grandmother told her of Captain America, Peggy and Steve were like a thing. Well, he was in for a bit of a shock when she took off her mask. Hermione just wanted to clarify one more thing. "So you're still alive and I know who you are. However, who is this?" She pointed to the silver-armed man who sat beside her.

The silver-armed man turned to face her, holding out his hand: "James Barnes, pleasure to meet you."

Hermione sat slightly stumped, she did shake his hand. She knew she shouldn't be surprised. He did go down with Steve and he had been a part of the Howling Commandos, why wouldn't he be here with Steve?

"Pleasure to meet you," Hermione said she didn't want to say too much. Including her name, it's not that she didn't trust them but she didn't want to reveal too much about herself if this was only a one time thing. Tony really didn't want her involved in this and even though she wanted to help, she didn't want to cross Tony this soon into her relationship with him.

"What don't I get a name?" James teased her. "How's this, you can call me Bucky if I get to know the name of such a beautiful dame, or at least get to look at the gorgeous face that I'm sure is under this mask of yours."

Steve rolled his eyes at Bucky's shameless flirting. It hadn't taken long for him to jump back into that routine. The star-spangled man hoped that Bucky hadn't forgotten that this is the kid of Tony Stark, and the granddaughter of Howard, their friend. He better knows what he's doing.

Hermione looked at Tony trying to get his opinion on the whole mask and name thing. He had his own reservations about it and was about to voice his opinions until he remembered. His little girl was not a little girl. She had just kicked a Norse God's ass with nothing but herself and a wand. It was impressive, to say the least. He had a whole suit that had been carefully designed and programmed for months. He had taken combat training for months to become the type of hero he was now, which begs the question. How the hell can she do that?

"It's up to you kiddo. You're 17 now and you did kick Rock of Ages here's ass without any sort of enchantment but your wand. It's your choice." Tony said supportively. It killed him to not voice an opinion but he knew that she just needed his assurance with her decisions right now.

"Then the mask will stay on for a while longer. The name however is something that I don't think is too big a deal." Hermione said to no one in particular. She turned to Bucky, "I'm Hermione."

"Interesting name, strange but interesting," Bucky commented jokingly.

"Well if the stories are true, you James Buchanan Barnes have no right to comment on my name." Hermione teased back flirtily.

"Touche," Bucky said in response. All went quiet for a minute, then they all remembered that Loki was still on the quinjet. They all looked towards him.

"I don't remember it being this easy, this guy packs a wallop." Hermione heard Steve say to Tony.

"Still you are pretty spry for an old fellow. What's your thing, pilates?" She heard Tony respond.

"What?" Steve asked, Hermione, giggled softly at that. The references Tony could spit out and neither Steve nor Bucky would ever understand it. It was hilarious. Hermione thought about it for a minute and it wasn't hilarious. They probably felt like morons for not understanding simple references as 'Rock of Ages'. She'd have to offer her services and knowledge to help them integrate into the 21st century. Hermione knew she would have to talk to Tony about setting them up with housing since they probably lived in SHIELD facilities. That's probably why they didn't understand much about the 21st century, they lived such a sheltered life within their facilities.

"-doing time as a Capsicle." She heard Tony say. Steve was silent for a moment. Hermione knew that Tony was taking this a little too far. It was horrific what happened to them, thinking that they were dying for the ending of the war only to realize that they were alive and everyone they knew was dead.

"Fury didn't tell me he was calling you in," Steve stated simply.

"Yeah, there's a lot of things Fury doesn't tell you," Tony said simply. Hermione knew that to be true. There's a lot of things SHIELD doesn't discuss with their employees. It happened to Sharon all the time and it frustrated the hell out of Hermione's cousin.

Thunder suddenly rattled the quinjet violently. "Where is this coming from?" Hermione heard agent Romanoff ask herself. Hermione was wondering the exact same thing. It was clear skies two seconds ago. That was when they turned to Loki who was looking towards the sky worriedly.

"What's the matter?" Steve asked the Norse god.

"You scared of a little thunder?" Hermione said in a slightly mocking tone. He was a god who just tried to take over the world and he was scared of a little thunder. Loki looked at the people surrounding him.

"I'm just not overly fond of what follows," Loki said simply, looking at Steve rather than Hermione which piqued the curiosity of most on board. Steve asked in the form of interrogation, they might have been able to use thunder against him. Whereas Hermione teased him for it. You would think Loki would respond cruelty to her rather than matter-a-fact to Steve.

Loki returned to look at the sky, not even a few moments later a loud thud came from the top of the quinjet. It was as if something had landed on it. That was when Hermione's fear of heights started to kick in. Her hands began to feel clammy as she tried to regain control of her emotions. She had gotten control over her magic since attending Hogwarts but if her fears got the better of her there was no telling what her magic was going to do.

Bucky must've noticed her nervousness because he grabbed her hand and allowed her to squeeze it as tight as she wanted. Seeing as he gave her his metal hand, there shouldn't have been any long-lasting damage on his end. Hermione's breathing evened out and she slowly realized the hold on his hand. Even though he couldn't feel her hand in his, he still felt her hand slip out of his.

That was when they both noticed a tall blond man standing in the back of the plane, the back door open. The man wore armor, like the type of armor you would see on someone from ancient times. His hair was shoulder-length, just far enough to meet the beginning of a long red cape. He looked towards Loki and he did not look happy.

He picked up Loki, swung his hammer violently, and flew off into the distance. Hermione got up to follow after him. She transfigured a pen that she saw in the cockpit into a broom but Tony stopped her.

"No, you stay here Cap and I will take care of this," Tony told her. Hermione was confused, didn't he say it was up to her. She gave him a frustrated look, "Don't give me that face you are in no condition to fight right now. I saw your freakout over the plane rattling, stay here and clear your head. Besides you said it yourself you hate flying, now suddenly you're going to fly into distant Elphaba?"

He was right and Hermione knew it. She just didn't want to stay on the quinjet by herself when the others were out helping.

"I can stay with you if you want." Bucky offered. He knew Steve and Tony could handle this and if they couldn't then they'd call for backup. The silver-armed soldier didn't know why but he felt very protective of this girl very quickly. He didn't like that feeling. He'd never felt that way before about a dame. Why this girl?

"Great now that that's settled, I have a living light show to catch." Tony flew off the quinjet and Steve followed using a parachute. Leaving everyone on the jet dumbfounded. Mostly everyone was confused as to who took Loki. But not Hermione, she knew exactly who that was. Before he switched his major to dentistry, Hermione's father was a mythology major. He was very passionate about Norse mythology. It's actually where Hermione's dad had met Uncle Tom.

If they had caught Loki, the person who took Loki could only be one person. Thor.

June 23nd, 2012 Aboard the Quinjet (10:47 pm) BUCKY'S POV

He didn't know what drew him to this dame but he knew she was going to be important to him. A Steve level of importance. She just had this aura about her that drew him in. Her curly, brown hair tucked into the hood of her suit. He didn't know just how long that hair was but he could only picture that it went on forever. He couldn't see much of her face due to her mask but her eyes were something he could look into forever. She had these big, beautiful caramel eyes that just melted your soul. Eyes that were so full of curiosity and wonder, he wished he knew what she was thinking about. She wasn't much shorter than him, maybe 5'6, 5'7. Compared to his 6'1 stature she was pretty average size compared to him. That's usually his type, someone that was tall enough that he didn't have to look down to see her. Curvy too. Even with only seeing her eyes, she was a looker just from that front.

"So Mr. Superhero, you got a name? Like a hero's name?" Bucky heard Hermione say to him, breaking his trance. He smiled at the nickname 'Mr. Superhero'.

"I'm not a hero, Steve's the hero," Bucky said simply. It was true enough, ever since Steve took the formula he's been the hero in their friendship.

"I don't think that's necessarily true. I saw the super-strength you had in Germany." Hermione pointed out. She didn't think that anyone else had access to Eirkenstein's formula, the young witch had to admit she was curious as to how Bucky got it.

"That is another story, a long story." The silver-armed soldier said almost in a trace. He had just told Steve a couple weeks ago what had happened during his capture, he wasn't ready to share it with anyone else. Not yet. He turned to look at Hermione hoping she would understand. "One that I am not willing to share, not yet."

"Understandable," Hermione said, getting up from her seat and began walking around the quinjet aimlessly. "May I ask how you got the arm? I went to the Captain America museum with my grandmother when I was a kid, you didn't have a metal arm." Hermione pointed out, her gaze focusing on the silver arm.

"That is a shorter story," Bucky said simply, Hermione watched his expressions as she heard the story of the arm. "I wasn't conscious when this happened but when Steve and I went down in the ice, I broke my arm on impact. My arm was frozen in the wrong position for decades so the damage had already been done. The doctors tried surgery and physical therapy, with the botched super serum I healed too fast for any of it to work. Then SHIELD proposed the arm and I said yes. The only difference between this arm and my flesh arm is that I can't feel anything in my left arm. It does however function the same way. It's better than being in pain the rest of my life.

Hermione listened to his words carefully but she couldn't help but not focus on the 'botched serum' reference.

"I know you said you didn't want to talk about it but I just have one question," Hermione looked for permission before continuing, Bucky took a minute before reluctantly nodding. "You said botched serum, that means you didn't take Eirkenstein's formula. There was only one and that was Steve so who's did you take?"

"HYDRA's," Buck said simply. Hermione knew he wasn't going to give up more information on the subject, so she didn't push. Bucky, wanting to change the subject, asked, "What about you? Any superhero name's you're thinking of?"

"I'm not a hero," Hermione said simply. She wasn't that time in Germany was a one-time thing and it wouldn't be happening again. Tony did say it was her choice but it was clear he didn't like the idea of her putting herself in danger. If only he knew the shit she, Ron, and Harry got into on a yearly basis.

"Your little stunt in Germany says otherwise." Bucky countered, the dame clearly had skills. It was anyone's guess where she learned how to fight like that but she belonged with them. To fight alongside them.

"That was a one-time thing. I saw Loki shift his staff into a wand and I panicked. A wand will give you a more concentrated direction of magic. None of you noticed so I had to step in and do something." Hermione explained. She truly didn't mind this whole 'being a superhero thing', it made her feel powerful and useful. But not in that way she was useful to Ron and Harry by doing the research, editing their homework, and helping them on their little adventures. But she felt depended on.

"I don't buy that, but no one can force you to be what you're not. You have to want it. I saw it with Steve, people prayed not to be drafted, myself included. But Steve tried 5 times before it finally took. He wanted to be part of the fight and the change." Bucky said simply. "I can see it in your eyes, that same drive and determination he had."

"I just like to stand up to the little guy, the people who can't protect themselves. That's it." Hermione said simply.

"I think Steve was my little guy, then he became Captain America. Whether you want it or not you have the potential to be great. You have the potential to be a hero, it's what you do with it that counts." Bucky said, Hermione thought for a moment before howling with laughter. Bucky looked at her confused, it took a few moments for Hermione to calm down.

"I'm sorry, it's just you look like you're only a few years older than me and then you talk like an old man. It's just too weird for my brain to comprehend." Hermione said, Bucky chuckled at her explanation. It was a weird situation. They both smiled at each other, not that Bucky could see the bottom half of her face while she was wearing the mask.

The back hatch of the quinjet opened up and some familiar faces, as well as unfamiliar, entered the quinjet. Tony and Steve sat in one of the seats while Thor jerked Loki into a seat while he stood and watched making sure that the trickster god didn't move.

"Everything alright?" Tony asked Hermione.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that question?" Hermione pointed out gesturing towards Loki.

"Touche," Tony said. Hermione looked towards Thor and wondered if she should introduce herself; she decided however that this was not the time. "You should try to get some sleep, you've had a long day. We are still a few hours out so you could probably get some shut-eye." Tony suggested. Hermione didn't realize how tired she was.

"You're right, wake me up before we get there though." Hermione yawned before closing her eyes as she slipped into darkness.

June 24th, 2012 Aboard the Quinjet (7:48 am)

Hermione had been fortunate to get some sleep that night. She woke up just as the Quinjet was about to land. It had been a very long night but they had finally made it. Immediately, SHIELD agents came aboard and took Loki into that main building and into holding. Hermione was the last to step out of the quinjet.

That was her first look at SHIELD's advanced technology, she had to say she was impressed. Most if not all of this tech was not available to outsiders. Well, I guess Tony was probably privy to the beautiful monitors that she saw in front of her. She could only imagine what was capable within these halls.

Tony went to remove his suit and change into different clothing. Tony told Hermione to follow the rest of the crew and he'll be right behind her. Bucky smiled and jerked his head in the direction that the group was going. Even though it was comforting to have a familiar person in the room, Hermione's nervousness slowly began to sink in.

Agent Romanoff, Steve, and Bucky led them through the halls of the ship and into a wide-open room with a lot of people in front of screens. It had large windows with a view of the sky. There were different levels with people and their monitors, they were at the tallest one with a large round table.

Bucky, Steve, and Natasha all sat down at the table. Tony made no move to sit and honestly Hermione wanted to still look around this amazing room, filled with tech she could only dream of. I guess since she was Tony's daughter, she would have access to most of this tech. Another man walked into the room. He had salt and pepper hair, a purple shirt, and tan khakis. He had wire-rimmed glasses, and behind the glasses, you could see his eyes. They were full of fear, sadness, and a flash of...anger?

Natasha brought up footage of Loki who looked to be in a gigantic cylindrical cage. A large man with an eye patch was talking with Loki. Fury began to leave the room and Steve took the footage of the screened table.

"He really grows on you doesn't he?" The man in the purple shirt said sarcastically.

"Loki's going to drag this out. So Thor, what's his play?"Steve said evenly. 'No shit Sherlock' Hermione thought to herself, rolling her eyes. She understood, he was used to being a captain, pointing out the obvious, then being praised for pointing out the obvious. Steve noticed her look, "You disagree?" Steve asked her.

"Nope just surprised how stupid you think we are." Hermione retorted, Steve looked at her confused. 'Oh how the mighty have fallen, how the hell did Grandma fall in love with this doof?' Hermione asked herself. At Steve's look, Hermione explained, "It's just, pointing out the obvious in a room full of geniuses is not going to work out in your favour. What we should be doing is figuring out what he wanted with the Tesseract in the first place. What power does it possess that Loki would want it?"

Steve pondered this for a moment, everyone knew Hermione was right. But then again they all had different ideas on where they would start. It was silent for a bit before Thor decided to answer the Star-Spangled Man.

"He has an army called the Chitauri. They're not of Asgard nor any known world." Thor explained, "He means to lead them against your people. They will win him and the earth, in return I suspect for the Tesseract."

"An army." Bucky joined in, frustrated, "From outer space."

"So he's building another portal,'' the man in the wired glasses pointed out. "That's what he needs Erik Selvig for."

"Selvig?" Thor asked in confirmation. Hermione could only assume that Thor knew the astrophysicist. She had read many publications from Erik Selvig and admired his work. She looked towards the man in the purple shirt. He looked familiar but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

"He's an astrophysicist." The salt and pepper hair man pointed out to the god of thunder.

"He's a friend," Thor stated with a twinge of sadness.

"Loki has him under some sort of spell, along with one of ours," Natasha stated, maintaining her cold, poker face persona.

"I want to know why Loki almost let us take him," Steve asked the group for input.

"He didn't," Hermione stated. "Which is why I had to step in."

The group looked at her confused. Other than Bucky, no one had let her explain the reason she had revealed herself. So she continued, "Loki transformed his scepter into a wand. A wand allows for a more precise and direct form of magic. He was planning on attacking you in a more personal and direct way. None of you noticed and you wouldn't have, it's not your fault, you didn't know. That is why I stepped in."

The group didn't know what to say. Hermione didn't know if she had gone too far with her explanation. She didn't want the rest of the group to think that she thought that she was better than them, because she wasn't. Bucky gave her a small smile of reassurance, she nodded slightly as a silent thank you. There was so much that they didn't know about magic and they were more than thankful the witch had stepped in. Everyone was silent.

"I don't think we should be focusing on Loki," The man in the wired glasses suggested after a while. "That guy's brain is a bag full of cats. You could smell crazy on him."

"Have care how you speak," Thor warned the purple-shirted man. "Loki is beyond reason but he is of Asgard and he is my brother."

"He killed 80 people in 2 days." Natasha pointed out.

"He's adopted," Thor stated hoping that would explain something regarding his behavior.

"I think it's about the mechanics." The man in the purple shirt gave his opinion. "Iridium...what do they need Iridium for?"

"It's a stabling agent." Hermione and Tony said at the same time, he was entering the room with another man, tall and who was balding slightly. He wore a cleanly pressed grey suit. Hermione could only assume that he was a SHIELD agent, but also a friend of Tony. She guessed this because Tony whispered to Phil but Hermione couldn't hear because it was too quiet.

"Sorry kid, hope you don't mind if I steal your thunder on this one," Tony said to Hermione knowing that she would have already figured out the same thing that he did. Hermione nodded in response. "It means the portal won't collapse in on itself like it did at SHIELD." Tony turned to Thor, patting him on the shoulder in sarcastic pity. "No hard feelings, Point Break. You've got a mean swing. Also, it means the portal can open as wide and stay open as long as Loki wants."

Tony turned to the window which had not yet been opened and said, "Raise the mizzenmast. Jib the topsails." he pointed to one of the employees, "That man is playing Galaga, he thought we wouldn't notice but we did." Tony continued to do a little routine with a brunette SHIELD agent, who Hermione learned was Agent Maria Hill regarding the eyepatch of Fury. Before continuing on his genius rant.

"The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily." Tony stated, Natasha shifted at the mention of another agent. 'They must be close. Maybe that's the other agent that Loki turned.' Tony continued: "The only major component he still needs is a power source of high-density energy. Something to kickstart the Cube."

"When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?" Agent Hill asked Tony.

"About 5 minutes ago when I was taking off my suit," Tony responded with a smirk but continued with the sources of his brief research. Hermione knew all of this because she studied random things whenever she was bored at Hogwarts which, was quite often when she wasn't getting into trouble with Ron and Harry. "The packet, Selvig's notes, the extraction theory papers, am I the only one who did the reading?"

"I didn't get any reading in my defense, but I've done enough self-research that I've been able to follow," Hermione said, trying to lighten the mood of the room, which unfortunately didn't work.

"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" Steve asked Tony seriously. He clearly didn't understand Tony's carefree yet genius attitude.

"He would have to heat the Cube to 120-million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier." The man in the purple shirt answered.

"Unless Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect." Tony finished the purple man's thoughts.

"Well if he could do that, he could achieve heavy-ion fusion at any reactor on the planet." the man in the purple shirt added.

"Finally someone who speaks English!" Hermione and Tony said at the same time. They both looked at each other once again and at the same time said, "Okay that's freaky, stop that." Everything smiled slightly at the father-daughter routine that Tony and Hermione seemed to have quickly fallen into, given the fact that they had only known each other for a couple days.

"It's good to meet you, Dr. Banner," Tony said to the purple-shirted doctor shaking his hand.

"You're Doctor Bruce Banner?" Hermione said mouth agape. That's where she remembered him from. She was a massive fan of his early work before all of the raging green monster stuff. Hermione crossed the room and held out her hand. "It is a pleasure to meet you, sir, I am a massive fan of your earlier work. Especially the trials on the serum and your work on antielectron collisions."

Bruce shook her hand back, slightly flustered. It wasn't often he met a fan of his work, mostly because he'd been in Calcutta. But he'd never met a fan this young before but seeing as this was Tony Stark's daughter it didn't surprise him.

"And I am a fan of how you lose control and turn into a giant green rage monster," Tony said in addition to Hermione's fangirling. Bruce looked at Tony and muttered a quick thanks before turning back to Hermione.

"It's nice to meet you...Hermione was it? And if you don't mind my asking what's with the mask?" Bruce asked. Hermione had realized then that she hadn't removed the mask yet. She looked to Tony for some form of confirmation that she was doing the right thing. She would never usually ask anyone for permission but she felt that this was an important decision for her and Tony to decide together. This wasn't just a small group anymore, this was the entirety of SHIELD.

"I told you, kid, this is up to you. As cheesy as it sounds, I'm proud of you either way." Tony said to her. That reassurance helped Hermione make her decision. Hermione removed the hood, letting her wild curls flow behind her back. She tilted her head downwards as she removed the mask. She shook out her curls and flipped her head up, letting everyone see her face for the first time.

"Peggy!?" Steve and Bucky said, in a breathy astonishment.

*LINEBREAK*

I hope you all enjoyed that and really hope you don't hate me for the cliffhanger. Again follow this fic's Instagram bonus content.

Okay for this week's poll question, Luke and I are tied this week. Making both Wanda and Dr. Strange is the most powerful Avenger in our book. Making our score,

Delaney-3

Luke-1

He is on the board folks! Miracles do happen!

This week's poll question is: Is Loki a whiney and unsympathetic character? Luke thinks that he is and I happen to strongly disagree. So leave your thoughts and comments.

Thank you all for the suggestions for Hermione's potential Avenger's name if I make her an Avenger. I have one in mind that hasn't already been suggested and I'm pretty attached. However, this is going to be your last week to submit names for her Hero name. So please no matter how good or stupid you think the idea is, please suggest it because no idea is a bad idea.

Alright, that's all for me this week, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Finally, I just want to thank you all so much for reading and for giving me all the support. It is what keeps me going. See you all next week!

-Delaney