Well, he could flip his attitude faster than turning a page.
She liked that.
"Hmm."
Hermione gave a slight nod, acknowledging Sitwell's "loyalty."
"Since you're so quick to understand..."
She reached into her pocket and pulled out a metal bracer, holding it out to him.
"What is this?" Sitwell took it carefully, turning it over with obvious curiosity.
"Something I crafted," Hermione said, her tone easy. "At the right moment, it heals the wearer's injuries. As long as it's not instant death, it works."
"One use only."
Sitwell's eyes went wide.
A magical artifact.
One that heals injuries.
This was a life-saving treasure.
He grabbed it with both hands like it might shatter if he breathed wrong, his face lit up with the kind of expression people wear when they find something priceless.
"This... this is far too valuable!"
He made a show of trying to decline, even as his eyes betrayed every word of it.
"Keep it."
Hermione waved him off, completely unbothered. "To me, it's just a trinket. Do your job well, and there'll be more where that came from."
She said it offhand, barely thinking about it.
Sitwell's heart nearly burst.
He slid the bracer onto his wrist and couldn't stop running his other hand over it.
"Thank you, Miss Witch!"
He bowed so deep it looked like he was considering going all the way to his knees.
The metal was cold against his wrist. His heart was anything but.
So what if he was bootlicking? Hadn't anyone told him? Fortune favors those who grovel.
Grovel long enough, and you'll have everything.
His mind was made up. Whatever happened next, he was latching onto Hermione and never letting go.
As for HYDRA?
What was that? Could you eat it?
...
S.H.I.E.L.D. secret prison. A special interrogation room.
Inside the transparent reinforced glass cell, Talos sat in his true Skrull form.
He was locked into a specially built chair, all four limbs immobile, his green skin announcing what he was to anyone who cared to look.
He knew he was done.
One moment of carelessness, and Hermione had caught him. He still couldn't quite believe it.
"Damn it."
He cursed Fury in silence.
That one-eyed idiot had gone and picked a fight with something like her.
He'd known Hermione existed. But knowing from a file and knowing from experience were two very different things. Everything he had was paper , nothing close to what Fury understood firsthand.
Who could have predicted she'd be this much trouble?
Footsteps. Steady, unhurried.
TAP. TAP. TAP.
Talos looked up. Hermione walked in, Sitwell at her side.
He startled. Then, cautiously: "Did Fury send you?"
He was still holding onto a thread of hope. Maybe Fury had cracked under pressure and told her everything. Maybe Hermione had found out she'd caused a mess and come to fix it.
"Pfft—"
Sitwell couldn't hold it. He clamped his mouth shut, shoulders heaving, body shaking with the effort of not laughing out loud.
"What's so funny!"
Talos shot him a glare, furious and embarrassed in equal measure.
"If it weren't for you people, I wouldn't be in here!"
Not long ago, he'd been the one giving this bald man orders. Now he was the prisoner. The reversal still hadn't fully settled.
Hermione ignored the complaint. She walked up to the cell and looked Talos over, top to bottom.
Little goblin. Thinking some very optimistic thoughts.
She'd seen straight through him the moment she walked in.
"Fury?" Her voice was cold. "He's drowning in his own problems right now. You think he has time to worry about you?"
Talos's stomach dropped. "Then — then why are you here?"
Something was wrong. He could feel it.
"You don't have the clearance to be in this facility!"
"Clearance." Hermione's smile was not a kind one. "That kind of thing means nothing to me."
She paused.
"I'm here to interrogate you. Now talk. What are the Skrulls actually doing on Earth?"
Talos's expression flickered. He smoothed it back into something neutral. "I came alone. No agenda. I'm just trying to survive."
"Alone."
Hermione let out a short, cold laugh, like she'd just heard something genuinely absurd.
"You think I don't know anything?"
She rattled off names without hesitation. "Betto. Pagon. Kal. Are they here 'surviving' too?"
Talos's pupils snapped tight.
"You... how do you know those names?"
He couldn't work it out. She was a witch. A wizard from some other world entirely. How did she know Skrull names?
"Right now," Hermione said, her voice dropping to something flat and final, "I'm the one asking questions."
She raised her wand.
"Crucio."
"AHHH—"
The scream tore out of him.
Every nerve in his body convulsed at once. The pain didn't come from his skin or his muscles , it came from somewhere deeper, somewhere that had no name, somewhere no physical torture had ever reached. Every technique S.H.I.E.L.D. had ever used on him didn't add up to a fraction of this.
"Ah..."
His body shook and wouldn't stop.
Sitwell stood off to the side, watching, and felt the blood drain out of him.
He looked at Hermione's face. Perfectly calm. Not a flicker of discomfort.
He had absolutely no doubt she had done this before. Many times.
The red light faded.
Talos collapsed against the chair, chest heaving, dragging in ragged breaths. His skin was soaked through, like someone had pulled him out of deep water.
"Well?" Hermione's voice was almost conversational. "How was that?"
Talos forced his head up. He met her eyes.
Beautiful eyes. Completely empty.
No child should look at anything the way she was looking at him.
In that moment, Talos understood exactly how wrong S.H.I.E.L.D.'s assessment of her had been.
"Whether you talk or not, it doesn't actually matter."
Hermione said it like she was discussing the weather.
"Let me tell you what happens next. In a moment, you're going to send a signal. You're going to call every Skrull on Earth to come here."
"What?!"
Talos stared at her. His mind went blank.
Then it didn't. He understood exactly what she was planning.
"No. Impossible!"
He threw himself against the restraints. The chair didn't move.
"We only came to Earth because the Kree were hunting us! We haven't done anything to harm this planet. Nothing!"
"Haven't you."
The mockery in her eyes was quiet and sharp.
"You cause trouble on my turf, you pay for it. Once I'm done with you, the Kree are next."
"I won't betray my people!" Talos's jaw locked. His voice came out raw. "Torture me all you want. I won't say a word!"
"Is that so."
Hermione's smile was small. Unhurried. She didn't look the least bit concerned about his backbone.
"Then it's not up to you."
She raised her wand again.
"Legilimens."
➤ Next: Collective Imperius, Mutual Slaughter!
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