~ Every 100 Power Stones = Bonus Chapter! Your votes keep this climbing. Thanks!
Strange shrugged, looking completely indifferent. "The price? That's a problem for later."
"If I don't do this, I won't even get the chance to experience the price. By then, the entire Earth gets devoured by Dormammu and we all go down together."
Mordo fell silent.
He had to admit Strange had a point.
Faced with annihilation, so-called natural laws didn't seem so important anymore.
A moment passed. Strange seemed to suddenly remember something.
"Right — before the Ancient One died, she told me to give this to you."
He lifted the Eye of Agamotto from around his neck and held it out to Hermione.
Hermione took it and skillfully opened the pendant with a murmured incantation. A flash of green light, and the Time Stone appeared.
She lifted the stone free, produced an exquisite pendant from her pocket, and carefully set the Time Stone into its setting.
Blue, yellow, and green. Three colors of light danced and played off one another.
Mordo and Wong stared, slack-jawed.
"The Mind Stone and the Space Stone..." Mordo's voice came out unsteady. "Those are in your hands too?"
He looked like his entire worldview was seconds from shattering.
"Out of six Infinity Stones, you alone hold half of them?"
Wong sucked in a sharp breath. He felt like he was dreaming.
"How... how is that even possible?"
Hermione smiled but said nothing. She simply channeled the Time Stone's energy into the now-empty Eye of Agamotto. The hollow space inside filled once more with a deep, steady green glow.
"I have an agreement with the Ancient One." She tucked the pendant away, three stones set into it now. "Until a new Sorcerer Supreme has come into their own, I'll preserve a portion of the Eye of Agamotto's power for Kamar-Taj."
Protecting the Time Stone was one of Kamar-Taj's oldest and most sacred duties. The moment Strange handed the gem over, Mordo and Wong both instinctively moved to object.
Then they remembered that Hermione had just eliminated a threat that had loomed over Kamar-Taj for ages.
Both of them closed their mouths.
Fine. The Ancient One said it. Call it a thank-you gift.
Besides, the Ancient One was gone now. The Time Stone was safer with Hermione than sitting in Kamar-Taj.
Not because they couldn't beat her. Absolutely not.
The group turned to leave. Hermione stopped.
She tilted her head back, looking up at the sky, and raised one hand in a slow, gentle wave.
Like saying goodbye to someone.
Strange caught the gesture and frowned. "What's wrong?"
Hermione turned and smiled. "Nothing."
Then she turned away and walked, without looking back.
"So strange..."
Strange muttered under his breath, then looked up again to check.
Nothing but a few drifting white clouds.
...
After helping Strange and the others repair the three Sanctums, Hermione finally turned her attention to the magic book.
[Hermione Jean Granger]
[Magic Level lv5 (6372/1,000,000)]
[Dark Harvest]
[Current Soul Energy: 839,024]
"Wha—"
She nearly choked.
Dormammu was, without question, the single being with the highest soul energy she had ever encountered since transmigrating. The sheer number staring back at her made that obvious.
Worth every bit of scheming. Worth every bit of the elaborate performance she and Old Baldie had staged together, reactivating Earth's world-class con operation, luring Dormammu planet-side and then carving him up like a roast.
Thanks to Dormammu's generous contribution, she was now one massive leap closer to Magic Level Six.
She steadied herself and looked at the rest.
[Curios]
[Time Stone (Analyzing)]
[One of the Infinity Stones of the Marvel Universe, possessing the power to manipulate time. All time magic levels +1 when held.]
[Remaining Analysis Time: 5997h 28m 12s]
...
[Space Stone (Analyzing)]
[One of the Infinity Stones of the Marvel Universe, possessing the power to manipulate space. All space magic levels +1 when held.]
[Remaining Analysis Time: 4251h 42m 3s]
...
[Mind Stone (Analyzing)]
[One of the Infinity Stones of the Marvel Universe, possessing the power to manipulate minds. All mind magic levels +1 when held.]
[Remaining Analysis Time: 4250h 12m 54s]
Worth noting: all three stones lost their effects in the Harry Potter world. Hermione's working theory was that they'd only function there once the magic book finished analyzing them completely.
Also worth noting: the stones did more than their descriptions implied. The various +1 magic level bonuses were passive effects from carrying them. Active use was a separate matter entirely, and not listed.
This run's gains: 839,000-plus soul energy, one Time Stone, and the Pokémon known as Old Baldie.
This run's losses: one Ancient One.
Summary: hhhhgysl.
Her phone rang.
Hermione glanced at the screen. The Bald Egg.
"Hello?"
"Miss Witch." Fury's voice came through, carrying a faint edge of unease. "Coulson's condition has stabilized. We can begin as agreed."
A pause.
"However, it seems they've run into a bit of trouble on their end. It's about the Chitauri."
"The Chitauri?"
Hermione's brow creased. She had personally mowed down every last one of those things. How was S.H.I.E.L.D. incapable of handling cleanup?
"Fine. I'll swing by."
She hung up and vanished into thin air.
...
Over the Atlantic Ocean. 10,000 meters up. Aboard a massive transport aircraft.
S.H.I.E.L.D.'s airborne base, codename: the Bus.
"Jemma! No!"
Fitz hammered against the isolation pod door with both fists, his voice already wrecked.
He watched, helpless, as Simmons stood at the edge of the open cargo ramp. Her face was white. Her eyes were red.
They were part of a small team Coulson had put together to handle supernatural incidents. During an investigation into a Chitauri virus leak, Simmons had been accidentally infected.
30 minutes until the virus erupted and released a biological pulse. To keep it from spreading to everyone else, Simmons had made her decision.
"Fitz, don't, " Her voice shook in the roaring wind, breaking at the edges. "This is the best option."
She turned and looked at him one last time through the pod door.
"Goodbye."
She leaned, and fell.
"No—!"
Fitz's howl tore out of him, raw and desperate, his eyes wild with grief.
Grant Ward didn't stop to think. He grabbed a parachute pack, sprinted for the cargo ramp, and went after her.
They plummeted through open sky at terrifying speed, wind screaming in their ears.
Ward locked onto Simmons' figure below him. Still too far. He wrenched his body into a tighter position, trying to squeeze out another fraction of speed.
Then, right next to his ear, completely out of nowhere, a voice.
"So, Ward, what exactly are you two doing?"
"Jumping out of a plane in broad daylight, and one of you without a parachute. Does she think she's Captain America? Is this performance art?"
Ward jolted.
That voice. Why did it sound familiar?
He shook his head. Had to be a hallucination. The stress of his double life as a HYDRA mole had finally cracked something loose.
10,000 meters up, it was just him, Jemma Simmons, and the wind. That was it.
Then, the next second, a figure appeared in the empty air directly in front of him. Reclining sideways. One hand propped under her head. Smiling at him like this was perfectly ordinary.
Ward's eyes went wide.
"Miss Witch?!"
➤ Next: Skye — The Conversation
— .—— .—— .—— .—— .——
Enjoying the story?
Read 130+ chapters ahead on Patreon.
Join the free community tier for early access to the latest updates:
patreon(.)com/DarkGolds