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Strange shrugged, looking at the rigid, angry Mordo with nonchalance. "The cost? That's a matter for the future bill collector. Right now, I prefer being alive to pay it."
He gestured to the restored city. "If I didn't break the rules, I wouldn't even have the chance to experience the consequences. Earth would be a snack for Dormammu, and your moral high ground would be floating in a purple void."
Mordo fell silent. His jaw was tight, his hands clenched. He had to admit that Strange was logically correct. Faced with immediate extinction, the sacred laws of nature seemed... flexible. But the bitterness remained.
After a moment of heavy silence, Strange seemed to remember something.
"Oh, right. The Ancient One asked me to give this to you before she died."
He reached up, unclasping the Eye of Agamotto from his neck. With a reverent hand, he passed the heavy brass pendant to Hermione.
Hermione took it. She didn't hesitate. She muttered a quick unlocking spell, and the mechanical iris of the eye spiraled open. A flash of brilliant, pure green light flooded the street as she extracted the raw Time Stone.
She reached into her own robes and pulled out an exquisite, intricate platinum pendant. It already held two other stones.
She carefully set the green gem into the third empty slot.
CLICK.
Blue, yellow, and green lights flared, intertwining and reflecting off each other in a dazzling display of cosmic power. The air around Hermione hummed with a terrified reverence.
Mordo and Wong stared, their eyes bulging.
"The Mind Stone... and the Space Stone..." Mordo whispered, his voice trembling. "You... you have them too?"
"You own half of the Infinity Stones?" Wong gasped, taking a step back. "This... how is this possible? No mortal can wield that much power!"
Hermione smiled, saying nothing. She simply tapped the pendant. A stream of residual temporal energy flowed back into the empty brass casing of the Eye of Agamotto, filling it with a green glow that looked authentic, though it lacked the infinite potential of the real stone.
"I made a promise to the Ancient One," Hermione said, pocketing her god-tier necklace. "I will leave a portion of the Stone's power with Kamar-Taj. Enough to maintain the Sanctums. Enough for the next Sorcerer Supreme."
One of the most sacred duties of the Masters of the Mystic Arts was to protect the Time Stone. Mordo and Wong instinctively wanted to protest, to fight for it. But then they remembered the ten thousand Hermiones. They remembered the green light that ate a god.
They shut their mouths.
Well, Wong thought, sweating, since the Ancient One approved it... consider it a consulting fee. Besides, it's safer with her than in the library.
It's definitely not because I can't beat her, he assured himself.
Just as the group was about to part ways, Hermione stopped. She looked up at the empty blue sky, her eyes narrowing as if she sensed a gaze from beyond the clouds.
She waved gently. A small, mocking salute.
"Goodbye, Watcher," she whispered.
Strange noticed the gesture. "What's wrong?"
Hermione turned, her smile bright and inscrutable. "Nothing. Just checking the weather."
She turned and vanished.
Strange looked up at the sky. All he saw were a few fluffy white clouds. "That's weird..."
Later.
After helping repair the physical structure of the Sanctums—a wave of her wand fixing what took masons weeks—Hermione retreated to a quiet pocket dimension to check her stats.
The grimoire floated open.
Hermione Jane Granger
[Magic Level: Lv5 (6,372 / 1,000,000)]
[Dark Harvest Active]
[Current Soul Energy: 839,024]
"Fertile..." Hermione breathed, her eyes lighting up. She almost swore in delight.
Dormammu was a goldmine. He was the single richest source of soul energy she had ever encountered. The payout was staggering. Her plan to turn Earth into a bait-trap—Earth Scam Park—had worked perfectly. Thanks to Dormammu's selfless donation of his own existence, she was well on her way to Level 6.
She turned the page.
[Wondrous Object: Time Stone (Parsing)] One of the Infinity Stones. Grants +1 to all Time Magic levels while carried. [Remaining Parse Time: 5997h 28m 12s]
[Space Stone (Parsing)] Grants +1 to all Space Magic levels while carried. [Remaining Parse Time: 4251h 42m 03s]
[Mind Stone (Parsing)] Grants +1 to all Mind Magic levels while carried. [Remaining Parse Time: 4250h 12m 54s]
The parsing was slow, but the passive buffs were incredible.
Summary: Gained: 800k Soul Energy, Time Stone, and Malphite (Dormammu). Lost: One Ancient One. Verdict: Hehe Haha Gu Yi Is Leaving.
Ring Ring.
Her magical phone buzzed. Caller ID: Hard-Boiled Egg.
"Hello?" Hermione answered, conjuring an apple juice.
"Miss Wizard," Nick Fury's voice came through, sounding tired but relieved. "Coulson's condition has stabilized thanks to the GH-325. We can proceed as agreed. However... his team seems to have encountered trouble. It concerns a Chitauri artifact."
"Chitauri?" Hermione frowned. "I wiped those scrap-metal lizards out. How can S.H.I.E.L.D. fail to clean up a few helmets?"
"It's a virus. Electrostatic. Look, can you check on them? They're over the Atlantic."
"Fine. I'll take a look on the way back to school."
Hermione hung up and vanished.
The Bus. 30,000 Feet Above the Atlantic.
The massive C-17 transport plane, S.H.I.E.L.D. Mobile Command "The Bus," roared through the night sky.
In the cargo bay, Leo Fitz was pounding frantically on the reinforced glass of the containment module.
"Jemma! NO! Don't do this!" he screamed, tears streaming down his face. "We can fix this!"
Inside the airlock, Jemma Simmons stood at the edge of the open ramp. The wind whipped her hair violently. Her face was pale, a strange electric blue pulse visible in the veins of her neck. She was infected with an alien virus that caused electromagnetic pulses. The next pulse would detonate the plane.
She was sacrificing herself.
"Fitz... don't do this..." Simmons sobbed, her voice snatched away by the wind. "This is the only way. Save the team."
She looked at him one last time, her eyes filled with love and terror.
"Goodbye."
She leaned back.
Gravity took her. She fell from the plane, tumbling into the freezing darkness.
"NO!" Fitz roared, collapsing against the glass.
Grant Ward, the team specialist, didn't hesitate. He grabbed a parachute rig, sprinted past Fitz, and dove out of the cargo bay door.
He plummeted through the air, streamlining his body to catch up to the falling scientist. The wind roared in his ears like a physical blow.
Ward stared intently at the small, tumbling figure of Simmons below. He was gaining on her, but the ocean was rushing up fast. He adjusted his posture, angling his descent.
Suddenly, a clear, amused voice rang right next to his ear.
"Hey, Ward. What are you two doing?"
Ward blinked, his heart skipping a beat. The voice was calm, conversational, completely at odds with the shrieking wind.
"Jumping out of planes in broad daylight? And she doesn't even have a chute? Does she think she's Captain America? Is this some kind of extreme performance art?"
Ward was stunned. The stress, he thought. The double life. Being Hydra is finally making me crack. I'm hallucinating.
At 30,000 feet, who could possibly be talking to him?
He turned his head to the right.
There, floating effortlessly in the air beside him, matched perfectly to his terminal velocity, lay a girl. She was lying on her side in mid-air, resting her head on one hand as if she were lounging on a sofa, looking at him with a casual smile.
Ward's eyes widened behind his goggles.
"The Witch?!"