Chapter 4
"This is stupid," Hermione hissed under her breath. "Stupid and reckless and doomed to end badly."
"What, no confidence in your abilities?" Leonard murmured as they creeped closer to Savage's house.
"Hardly. However, I highly doubt Ray is going to be all that useful and I have neither seen you and Mick in action, nor have I heard of your exploits so forgive me if I'm not feeling altogether confident that we'll be successful."
They ducked down behind a row of bushes near the front of the house. "You know, just because I made one mistake doesn't mean I'm an idiot," Ray complained.
"No, but considering the severity of what you've done, it doesn't exactly make you seem all that intelligent, does it?"
"Even if Raymond is an idiot, Mick and I are professionals," Leonard reassured her.
"In that case, why don't you two show off a bit and tell us how we're going to get into the house undetected."
"Gladly." Leonard shifted slightly to the side in order to get a better look through the windows into the front of the house. "I'm seeing motion detectors on the ground floor. Hardware on the doors look standard issue."
"I can't see any smoke alarms," Mick rumbled, attention also focused solely on the house.
"Just stay close," Leonard warned. "I saw at least three guards on the perimeter."
Both men were too focused to notice Ray straightening up and about to stride towards the house.
"Right, boss," Mick agreed as Hermione reached out.
"Aaagh," Ray choked as Hermione grabbed him by the back of his shirt and yanked.
"What the hell?" Mick demanded as he and Leonard turned to look at them.
As soon as Hermione had let go of Ray, he tugged his collar away from his throat and gasped, "What was that for?!"
"I know you're not well-versed in the art of remaining undetected because it requires a level of subtlety that you do not possess," Hermione hissed at him. "But we do not boldly stride toward the house we are trying to break into, especially when it is owned by a man that wants to kill us and who we are unable to kill."
"I recognize the security system," he snapped. "My parents had the exact one. I can have the access code cracked and the security system disabled before you can say 'breaking and entering'."
"I wouldn't be so sure of that," Mick told him.
"Why's that?"
"Because that is a dummy box," Leonard drawled. "If you tapped into it, it would alert the guards."
"They would have been on us quicker than you can say 'rookie mistake'," Mick finished.
Ray looked slightly crestfallen at the realization that he wouldn't be able to show off his knowledge and Hermione sighed. "Alright, I am implementing a new rule. Since Ray and I both have limited experience with this sort of thing- my usual targets being quite different from this- Leonard and Mick will be taking the lead here. If they say stop, we stop. If they tell us not to touch something, we don't touch it. Whatever they say goes. Agreed?"
While Ray simply nodded, Leonard smirked and stepped forward, crowding into Hermione's space as per usual. "So, you're going to do whatever I tell you to do?"
Hermione narrowed her eyes, grateful that Leonard couldn't see her blush through the scarf covering her face. "In regard to this mission, yes. As soon as we are done here, all bets are off."
"Fine by me," he murmured and stared at her for a moment longer before turning away and starting towards the house.
"Is he always like this?" she asked Mick as they followed after Leonard.
Mick just shrugged. "I'd get used to it, if I were you."
Once they made it inside the house without being detected, Leonard and Mick quickly disarmed the security system and made sure all the motion sensors in the house were off.
"What if there are other security measures implemented on a separate system?" Hermione asked as they walked through the living room into a large, open space with six glass cases arranged in the center of it.
"If there is, it's likely not on this floor," Leonard answered. "You'll want to keep an eye out while upstairs though."
"I thought you said you had experience breaking and entering," Ray told her, glancing around the room.
"As I said, this sort of place isn't my usual target."
Spotting the dagger in the last case on the left, Ray made a beeline towards it. "Found it." Leaning in to get a closer look, he asked, "Is there a trick to opening the case?"
In lieu of an answer, Leonard simply pulled something from his coat pocket and used it to smash the glass. Mick quickly followed suit with the other cases.
"What are you doing?!" Ray yelped. "Let's grab the dagger and let's go."
Leonard rolled his eyes. "Raymond, you don't break into a candy store and steal on gumball."
"You guys grab the goodies," Mick told them, starting to leave the room. "I'll find the safe."
"I'll join you," Hermione stated. Pausing at the door frame, she turned back and pointed at Ray. "What's the rule, Raymond?" she asked. When he remained stubbornly silent, she repeated, "What's the rule?"
He sighed. "Whatever they say goes."
"That's right."
"Does that mean you're going to do whatever Mick tells you to do?" he challenged.
"Yes. In fact, I'll even ask for permission first." Looking back towards Mick, Hermione asked, "Is it alright with you if I go rummage through Savage's things before I set them all on fire?"
Mick grinned, eyes wild. "Sounds like a party to me."
"Good, glad we settled that." Looking at Ray again, Hermione reminded him, "Leonard is in charge of you. If something goes wrong because of you, I promise you that the resulting dressing-down you receive back on the ship will haunt you to the end of your days." And with that, Hermione flounced out of the room and up the stairs after Mick.
Leonard watched Hermione leave. She was mess of contradictions and he couldn't deny how appealing that was to him. He could admit to growing easily bored with people- they were all so simple and dull. It was always easy to puzzle out their thoughts and intentions and respond accordingly so that the situation would end the way he wanted it to. But Hermione gave away nothing.
She confidently called herself a thief yet openly admitted to not knowing how a home security system worked. Rip had proclaimed her both a hero and terrorist all in the same breath, and she'd acknowledged that she held both titles, apparently at the same time.
While even Leonard worried with the others about the consequences of Ray losing his tech and altering the future, Hermione just seemed genuinely amused and mildly annoyed. There was the strong possibility that she knew something the rest of them didn't, but even the smallest of chances that this mistake couldn't be corrected should have had her worried. But there was nothing in her eyes, her tone, her words to suggest that.
The reason Leonard was nicknamed Captain Cold wasn't just because of his weapon- it was because of his attitude. Leonard was known for his icy demeanor and the unemotional, calculated approach he took to every situation, no matter how personal it may seem. They accused him of having ice in his veins and of never caring about anyone but himself- which wasn't true- but Leonard was always happy to encourage that belief.
Mick was the opposite. He was all fiery rage and hair-pin trigger. Knowing that he was operating on little more than his instincts, Mick was content to allow Leonard to take charge in their partnership and call the shots. Because of that, Leonard made sure that he knew his partner better than he knew himself. It was vital that he be able to anticipate how Mick would react to a situation so that he could effectively respond to it.
On the surface, Hermione appeared to be just like Leonard. Cold, calculating, distant, and cruel. She took pleasure in ripping people to shreds both physically and with her words. And, like Leonard, she seemed to have back-up plans for her back-up plans. There was a reason Rip claimed that her skills would be vitally important in defeating Savage; though, they had yet to hear stories explaining why Hermione would be considered just as capable as a 4,000-year-old psychopath.
Yes, on the surface Hermione seemed to be just like Leonard. But Leonard had always had keen insight and instincts and he'd known from the first moment he saw her that it wasn't ice flowing through Hermione Granger's veins. Just like his partner, Hermione appreciated the heat and rage- the unpredictability- of fire. While Leonard used his rage and pain to freeze out the rest of the world, Hermione channeled hers into burning it to the ground.
Only a fool played with fire. But Leonard wanted to find out for himself just how painful the burn would be.
"What do you think you're doing?" Raymond demanded. "This is what we came here for."
Leonard wished that Hermione had stayed and Mick and gotten stuck with Raymond. That wouldn't have ended well though. "No, it's what you came here for." He reached out to touch the helmet that had previously been protected by a glass case, but Raymond grabbed his arm before he could make contact. "Take your hand off me," he warned softly.
"I'm not gonna let you jeopardize another mission," Raymond told him firmly.
"That's a bold statement coming from you," Leonard sneered before drawing back and punching him in the face. Raymond stumbled, looking surprised as blood dripped down from the corner of his lip. "This is my mission," he reminded him. "I'm in charge."
"And I'm gonna listen to a guy who's spent half of his life in prison," snapped Raymond, returning Leonard's punch with one of his own.
As he shifted back, Leonard's arm knocked against the helmet, and he watched as it fell off the stand and rolled across the floor. A red light filled the room and an alarm started blaring through the house, followed by a metal cage falling from the ceiling to surround them entirely.
"Great," Leonard told him, glaring. "Now we're both going to prison."
Hermione automatically glanced back as an alarm started echoing through the house. "Ha! I told you they wouldn't last thirty seconds! Pay up."
Mick groaned, fishing out his wallet and handing Hermione a twenty-dollar bill. "Thought Leonard would be able to keep him from doing something stupid for at least a minute."
"Please," Hermione scoffed. "The only way that was going to happen was if we had gone with my plan: knocking Raymond unconscious before entering the house. But alas, too late now."
"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. I'll go deal with them, you search the upstairs."
"I suppose it doesn't matter now if there are any alarms up there," she sighed. "Keep an eye out for Savage."
"Will do."
"What the hell happened?" Mick barked as he appeared in the room to find Leonard and Ray trapped inside a giant metal cage.
"It was this idiot's fault," Leonard told him.
"Your partner's fault," Ray stated at the same time, pointing his thumb at Leonard.
"I told you we shouldn't have brought him," Mick snapped.
"Agreed, but we got bigger problems." Leonard pushed past Ray and walked over to cases closer to where Mick was standing. "I need you to find the fuse box and-"
"Trigger a system default," his partner finished. Pointing at Ray, Mick vowed, "This ain't over, Haircut," before striding brusquely out of the room.
Leonard began knocking on the wooden stands supporting each case until he found one that wasn't hollow. Fingers skimming over the edge of the panel, he found the opening and leaned down to study the security system he triggered by knocking the helmet from its stand. He knelt down and pulled a small screwdriver from his coat.
"How did you know how to do that?" Ray asked.
"When I was a kid, my dad brought me along on jobs," Leonard explained. "I had little hands. I could get into tiny spaces, do whatever he needed me to do like," he gestured at the wires in front of him, "rewiring a security system."
"In another life, you could've been an electrical engineer," Ray commented, sitting down beside him.
"Guess I dodged a bullet," he retorted, shifting so he was also sitting down. "You think I want to be like you?"
Ray turned to look at him, brows furrowed in confusion. "You make being a tech billionaire sound like a bad thing."
It was a bad thing. "You spend all your time and money inventing a super-suit and what do you do with it? Fly around like some incredible shrinking schmuck trying to save the world."
"Robbing banks for a living… I suppose that's more important?" Ray challenged.
"It's sure as hell more satisfying." Leonard hadn't been lying when he told Hermione why he stole things; there was no greater rush than pulling off an impossible heist.
"Thinking like that is what makes you a criminal."
"No," Leonard disagreed. "It makes me a survivor. And there's gonna come a day when you wish you were, too."
When his attempts at rerouting the system failed to accomplish anything, Leonard pulled his hands away from the wires with a scowl.
"Here." Ray held out his hand for the screwdriver and Leonard reluctantly handed it to him. Leaning over him, Ray used it to flip a switch. "You flip the solenoid, and it saves you the trouble of rewiring."
"I take it back, Raymond. You're not completely useless after all."
Ray laughed. "Too bad Hermione wasn't here to see that."
Leonard smirked, taking his screwdriver back and getting back to work. "Don't kid yourself- even if she were here, she'd still think you're useless. It's gonna take more than that to impress her."
Three doors down on the right-hand side of the hallway, Hermione found the room that she was looking for: the library.
If any of her schoolmates could see her now, they'd joke about how it was no surprise that the first thing Hermione would go looking for when breaking into a house was a room with too many books. The reputation she'd received at Hogwarts was one that, in the beginning, was an unwelcome surprise but by her third year was something Hermione kept carefully cultivated.
After all, who'd care if the resident bookworm was spotted reading in the library for the umpteenth time? And, if the book she was reading wasn't at all familiar to any of her classmates, then that just meant it was one of the many useless extra reading materials that was always cited in her homework.
Not even the professors bothered to glance at what she was reading by the middle of her second year. Except for Professor Snape, of course. He always knew what Hermione was reading but no matter how 'inappropriate' any of her other teachers would have found her selections to be, Professor Snape never said a word. There had even been a time or two where she'd look in her bag for something and found a book she'd never seen before slipped in there. She always knew who it was that gave it to her, and she never told a soul about it, not even after the events in the Astronomy Tower at the end of their sixth year.
Even if he wasn't a good man, Professor Snape had still saved her life after the fight in the Ministry. Madam Pomfrey may have been the one overseeing her care, but Hermione knew Professor Snape was responsible for her treatment. While there were many times she wasn't altogether grateful for his actions, Hermione wouldn't forget them.
Savage's library was as tastefully decorated as the rest of his home with its elegant crown molding and mahogany bookshelves that perfectly matched the ornate desk by the window. It was actually surprising how nice the décor was, considering they were in the 70s.
While they had passed a large study on the main floor, Hermione knew that Savage wouldn't keep anything of value in it. It was too obvious and too open to be a true hiding place- though she knew several pureblood families who kept things in their study because it was obvious and they wanted to arrogantly show that they didn't need to properly hide things away since they were too important to be afraid. Those had been her most boring and yet strangely satisfying jobs.
While he was just as arrogant as any pureblood, Savage wasn't a fool. The most obvious he was going to be with his valuables were the cases downstairs; after all, putting the one weapon that could kill you in the proper hands on display for all to see was a bold move. Those were just his physical valuables though, and for a man like Savage, trinkets weren't going to be the thing that made up the bulk of his treasure- it was going to be the knowledge he'd collected the centuries. The tricks and skills he'd cultivated for several millennia.
Scientia potential est.
Knowledge is power.
And where else would someone find knowledge if not in written word? Well, and in the minds of others, but Hermione had a feeling that Savage wouldn't break as easily as others had under torture.
If she had time, Hermione would have picked up every single book on the shelves and flipped through them to see what Savage had left pressed between their pages. That was how she had hidden some of her information over the years. Even if the Ministry were to somehow get past her wards and into one of her flats, they weren't going to go through every single book she owned. So, tucked away in the pages of some of her favorite muggle novels were indecipherable clues that she'd wanted to keep close to her but out of the hands of any casual seekers.
Ignoring the desk for now, Hermione crouched down on the rug that covered the majority of the room and studied it closely. She was sure that Savage had a handsomely paid staff on hand that kept the rooms in pristine condition, but this rug was old, and the wonderful thing about old rugs was how easily they kept an impression. The threads kept track of every repeated path that Savage took on it, from the door to his desk, from his desk to his reading chair, and from his desk to…
She walked over to the bookshelf next to the large windows over-looking the garden. "Alright," she muttered, pulling off her gloves. Even the thinnest of gloves affected her ability to judge how much pressure she was using when handling paper and she couldn't afford to make any mistakes. Besides, wasn't like her fingerprints were going to be in any systems. "If I was a highly intelligent and deeply disturbed individual, where would I hide things on this bookcase? Considering the fact that, objectively speaking, I could be described as both, this shouldn't be that hard."
Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler… too obvious… The Catcher in the Rye… also too obvious… The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes… too ironic…
"How is this bookshelf organized?" she wondered out loud. "This is just upsetting. Why is The Scarlet Letter on the same shelf as Jane Eyre? How does he live like this?"
Hermione's gaze caught on the faded gold lettering of A Christmas Carol. Pulling it off the shelf, she thumbed through the pages until she came across a single sheet of folded paper one-eighth of the way in. Shutting the book, she then reached out for a copy of Jane Austin's Sense and Sensibility simply because it was the last book she would ever expect to find something in. And again, she found at least one letter folded inside. The final book she grabbed was a collection of Russian folktales. Hermione didn't know why she decided to take it but had learned long ago to always trust her instincts.
"Looking for something in particular, or just browsing?"
The blinking red lights finally turned off with a loud thud.
"Looks like Rory found the fuse box," Ray commented.
Leonard was glad that at least that was taken care of. Considering what Hermione had said back on the ship about what Savage's most probable response in this situation would be, it was likely that he was either on his way here or had already arrived. If Hermione was right, then the fact that he and Ray were literally trapped and Hermione and Mick were both split up in different areas of the house meant that they all made for easy targets. They needed to get out of the cage and regroup.
"We got a slight problem," Mick announced, and the tightness in his voice sent Leonard shooting to his feet. He knew what that tone meant. "The owner just came home. And he's real excited to see us again."
Mick was marched sideways into the room by Vandal Savage, who had a tight grip on the back of Mick's neck with one hand while the other aimed a small revolver at his head.
"We meet again," he greeted them, glancing between the two caged men as he tightened the hand on Mick, causing him to let out a grunt of pain. "Oh, I'm grateful for another opportunity to kill you."
Now that they were closer, Leonard could see the thin trail of blood leaking from a cut near the top of Mick's forehead. Clearly, Savage had clocked him in order to disorientate him enough that he couldn't fight back. Leonard's hands came up to clutch at the silver bars of their cage.
Had Savage already taken care of Hermione? Or was she still somewhere in the house?
Savage's attention turned back to Mick as the man began trying to escape from his grip. "Stop struggling," Savage ordered. "I've had 4,000 years of training in every hold and pressure point known. But you already know that, don't you?" He turned to look at Leonard and Ray again. "That I'm immortal."
"I'm gonna kill you anyway," Leonard spat, glowering. "That's a promise."
"Oh, what have I done to deserve such enmity?" he asked, sounding amused. "No, let me rephrase that. What have I done to you? Perhaps you have targeted me for something I've yet to do." Savage studied their expressions closely as he confidently stated, "You traveled here from some point in the future."
"Catches on fast, this guy," Ray muttered, and Leonard almost hit him. The man really didn't know when to shut up.
A wide smile spread across Savage's face. "Visitors from another time." He turned to look at Mick and then, without warning, slammed the butt of his gun into the same spot on his skull where he'd previously struck him.
Mick hit the floor with a groan.
"You won't be so happy when the rest of the team shows up and knocks that smug grin off your face," Ray warned him.
"Oh, why wait?" Savage asked, bending down to pick up the comm unit that had fallen out of Mick's ear. "A communication device of some sort, I imagine." He studied it for a moment before tossing it to Leonard. "Please, contact your friends. I'm looking forward to seeing at least three of them again."
Spinning around, Hermione snapped, "Don't do that!"
Leonard raised an eyebrow as he lounged against the door frame. "Do what? Talk to you?"
"Don't act ignorant. You of all people should know the dangers of sneaking up on a thief."
"I knew you wouldn't hurt me," he responded, smirking.
She didn't know why he sounded so confident. They barely knew each other and, while Leonard had spent quite a bit of that time flirting with her, it wasn't nearly enough to engender that much trust between them.
The blinking red light disappeared from the hallway behind him. "Surprised that didn't turn off when you managed to disengage whatever trap Savage had put into place," she commented, acting as though she was going to set the books she was holding on the table beside her. When Leonard turned to glance behind him, Hermione took the chance to slip the books into the small, almost invisible bag hanging at her side without him noticing.
"You mean the giant cage that fell from the ceiling?" Leonard turned back to face her. "The alarm and the cage were on two connected but separate systems. You could turn one off without turning off the other."
"Ah." Hermione's lips quirked at the mental image of Leonard and Ray trapped in a large, silver bird cage. When Leonard continued to do nothing more than continuing standing there and staring at her, she asked, "What?"
He shrugged. "It's just interesting, only being able to read your eyes. I'm trying to guess if what I'm seeing would match the rest of your expression."
That was a strange thing to be wondering at a time like this. "Despite the time jumps, we've known each other for less than 24 hours and I've been wearing a mask for at least half of that time. I highly doubt your ability to read me is all that great."
"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure of that."
"Really?" she challenged. "Then what am I feeling right now?"
"Like I'm wasting your time," he immediately responded and then the smirk fell from his face. "You're worried. Rip may have confidence in your abilities, but Savage is 4,000 years old and that's an advantage not even Carter or Kendra can easily overcome. You have confidence but you're not arrogant- you know exactly what you're capable of. But until you actually fight Savage, you won't know how you stack up against him physically or even mentally. This is all a game to him and, as much as we all might like to say otherwise, you can't win until you know the rules."
Her sharp inhale seemed to echo in the suddenly silent room.
Leonard had somehow managed to figure out every one of her main concerns. She had thought she was hiding her apprehension well. Every time Rip made a casual remark at her abilities, Hermione hadn't reacted in any way that disagreed with his assessment of her. But internally, she couldn't help stressing over how little she actually knew about their situation.
All Rip would say is that Savage conquered the world using the power and skills he'd accumulated over his long life. But that didn't actually tell them anything. What skills? What was his initial plan of attack? What kind of people supported him? How did he manage to go unnoticed for so many years? Did he go unnoticed or was it just that no one was ever able to catch him?
And what about her? What had she done to earn such a high opinion? Or, what would she do to earn it?
He was still standing in the shadows of the doorway, staring at her with eyes that had turned so dark she couldn't even see a hint of blue in them. "Told you I could read you."
Acting solely on instinct, Hermione twitched her fingers and allowed the scarf covering her mouth and head to fade away. "And you didn't even need to see anything beyond my eyes," she tried to tease but it fell flat.
Leonard's gaze seemed to somehow grow more intense and Hermione watched as he straightened up and began stalking across the room towards her. He didn't stop until he was standing directly in front of her, closer than he usually stood. The way he loomed over her should have made her uncomfortable, made her feel trapped and on-edge, but instead she just felt…
"What are you doing?" she almost whispered.
For the first time since she'd met him, Leonard smiled. It barely pulled at the corner of his lips, but it made his whole face seem softer. His hands came up to cradle her face and he leaned in close. "Stealing a kiss."
Once Leonard finished passing along Savage's message, he allowed the comm unit to fall to the floor.
It would take the team less than five minutes to fly there in the ship and another two or three minutes for them to actually get into the house. A lot could go wrong in eight minutes.
Where the hell was Hermione?
"I must say, I was surprised to see that it was you three that were sent here," Savage commented. "Considering your failure at the bazaar earlier, I would have thought that only your best would be sent after me."
"Let us out of this cage and you'll see just how good at our jobs we are," Ray retorted.
Savage smirked. "If you were actually any good at what you do, you wouldn't have been caught in such a simple trap."
"He's got a point there," Hermione agreed, appearing out of thin air a few feet to the left of Savage. "This is just a travesty. I'm so disappointed in you two." She lifted a hand and Savage was sent sailing across the room and slammed against the wall. He crumbled to the floor for only a moment before getting back on his feet.
Moving to take a defensive stance in front of Mick, Hermione's head tilted slightly to the side as she studied Savage. From the way her eyes seemed to narrow, Leonard knew that she was smirking. "You were saying something about sending our best?"
"Yes, I did." The way Savage's eyes were lit up made Leonard feel even more on edge. "I'm pleased to know that I'm thought so highly of by your little group that they would send you to apprehend me."
"Apprehend you?" Hermione laughed. "Sorry, but I've no interest in spending any more time with you than I have to." Something appeared in her hand and then multiple blasts of varying color were thrown towards Savage. He dodged each one with ease, and pulled several knives from his coat, flinging them at Hermione in return. She ducked out of the way, unbothered by the metal flying past her face.
Unlike the other times Leonard had seen Hermione fight, he had an unimpeded view of her weapon.
"Is that a stick?" Ray muttered, eyes narrowing as he tried to get a better look at the thin, black object in Hermione's hand.
"No," Leonard murmured, the pieces finally clicking together. "It's a wand."
Hermione threw spell after spell at Savage, trying to move him away from the others. Savage refused to give ground, avoiding almost every spell and slowly moving closer to Hermione. The spells he didn't manage to dodge seemed to have a limited effect on him.
"It's been a long time since I've fought a wand wielder," he told Hermione.
"But not that long since you've last encountered one, right?" she sneered.
Savage laughed. "No, it has not. In fact, I believe the last ones I spoke with must have been one of yours. Or, perhaps not. Considering the tensions in Britain, it would all depend on what you are."
Leonard watched Hermione's left-hand twitch as something slid into her palm. "What I am is better than you."
He pressed his lips firmly against hers, no hesitation in his actions. Hermione's mouth fell open in surprise and Leonard instantly deepened the kiss, pressing her back into the bookshelf.
The smart thing to do would be to push him away.
The smart thing to do would be to stop this, tell Leonard off, finish searching the house, and then go back to the ship to continue yelling at Leonard.
But Hermione had stopped doing the smart thing a long time ago and never looked back.
Her hand automatically raised to cup the back of Leonard's neck while the other slid into his jacket and pressed against his lower back, pulling him closer. His hands fell from her face, moving to grip her waist and dragging her up onto her toes.
Even as the feel of Leonard's tongue tangling with her own overwhelmed her senses, in the back of Hermione's mind she knew how dangerous this was- knew how reckless it was to get so distracted on a job. But she honestly didn't care right then.
Her hand slipped under his shirt and she dragged her nails lightly down his back, enjoying the way he shivered and pressed his body more tightly against her. Leonard pulled away and then one of his hands was in her hair, tugging her head back so that he could begin nibbling at her jawline.
"While I do love how skintight this outfit is," he murmured in her ear, "I hate how much it covers up."
Hermione tried to come up with something clever to say but could only moan as he found a spot on her neck that made her knees go weak. "Leonard," she sighed.
With one last nip- hard enough that Hermione knew it would leave a mark- Leonard returned to snogging her so thoroughly she was left entirely senseless.
A thud from the floor below them abruptly brought Hermione back to the situation at hand. Pushing against Leonard's chest, she ripped her lips away from his and tried to force some space between them. It took a moment for Hermione to realize that, without her noticing, her leg had wrapped itself around Leonard's waist, holding him in place against her. When she finally managed to untangle herself from him, Hermione pushed him until there was a foot of space between them.
"What was that for?" she panted, feeling very off-kilter.
Leonard was also having trouble catching his breath and Hermione couldn't help staring at his now-red lips. "Are you saying you haven't thought about it? Thought about you and me?"
Hermione blinked at him. "It's only been a day," she blurted.
He smirked, responding in his usual drawl, "I thought about it the moment you stopped hiding your face. When your hair fell down your back and you smirked."
She couldn't contain the shiver that ran through her at his admission. Hermione would be lying if she said that she wasn't attracted to Leonard; his cool, level voice, and the shades of icy aqua, crystalline blue, and deep indigo that shifted in his eyes. "This is not the time nor the place to discuss this."
"You're right." Leonard stepped forward again and gave her a hard, fast kiss. "Something else for you to think about later," he murmured and pulled away. Heading back out into the hallway, he said, "You finish up in here, I'll go lend a hand downstairs. Should be able to buy you a few more minutes."
Taking a deep breath, Hermione forced herself to focus again on the task at hand. "I just need to check the guest room, then I'll be finished. Five minutes."
"Take your time."
The silver dagger glinted in the light as Hermione sliced it down Savage's cheek. He hissed in pain and she laughed, pulling her leg up and kicking him back a few steps as she danced away.
"Hope you don't mind," she taunted. "I just wanted to give you something to remember me by."
"Oh, trust me, Sahira," Savage purred, running a thumb under the wound. "I could never forget you."
"That's good. A girl likes to hear that she's unforgettable. Of course, usually not from men like you…" The ground beneath Savage's feet exploded, sending him skidding into another room.
Hermione finally looked back at Leonard and Ray. "Are you both alright?"
"We're fine," Leonard reassured her, despite the fact that he felt anything but. "Just focus on keeping Savage occupied long enough for the rest of the team to get here."
Something flickered in her eyes, there and gone again too quickly for Leonard to be able to tell for sure what it was. She turned back to face Savage before he could say anything else.
"There are no men like me," Savage boasted.
"Because of the fact that you're immortal and skilled?" Hermione stepped towards Savage, seemingly unafraid of getting too close. "If you think about it, that would also apply to Khufu. Unless, of course, you're referring to the fact that you're a monster that enjoys murdering innocents and desecrating bodies. In which case, you're still wrong because there will always be men like you."
"Perhaps there will be men who follow in my footsteps," he responded. "You have met one such man yourself-though he bares the title of 'man' rather loosely, if you ask me. But there will never be anyone else to go as far as I have. To reach as high as me."
"And yet they will be remembered- as terrible and as wicked as they are, history will remember their names and deeds. But you… you who hides in the shadows and uses puppets as mouthpieces, who will remember you?" Savage's smirk turned into a grimace as Hermione's words struck their mark. "No one's going to remember your name after you're gone, Hath-Set. You will be discarded and forgotten. Because that's what happens to the men who remain in the shadows- their puppets live on in infamy while they are left to rot in silence. Doesn't sound like much of a legacy, does it?"
"Has no one told you that you talk too much?" Savage snarled, pulling another knife from his jacket.
"Oh, they have. But clearly, you've never taken a debate class; it doesn't matter what you're saying, just as long as you're running down the clock."
With a flick of her wand, Savage was sent skidding across the room again, just as Jax appeared, dropping down onto the top of the cage.
"The burning man," Savage greeted, straightening up.
"I don't just burn, pal," he retorted, sending a wave of fire at Savage. The force of the blow threw the immortal into the next room, through a pair of windows, and out onto the patio. "I blast things too."
Jax first checked on Mick, then started to burn the bars of the cage to free the men inside. Leonard looked around for Hermione, but she was gone.
Hermione hurried over to the desk. Hidden compartments in desks were such a cliché, yet it was still a necessary to check for because that was where one hid the things that they weren't finished with. Half-written letters, incomplete contracts, partially finished forgeries of legal documents- all went into the hidden compartment until they were finished so they could be moved to a better, more secure location.
Her years of experience meant that it took less than a minute to find the compartment and get it open. Grabbing all the papers within, Hermione shoved them into her bag without a glance. Seemingly finished with her task, she was about to close the drawer and noticed a something caught in the space above it. It took more effort than she'd expected to free the folded letter that had been tucked away there and Hermione wondered if it had been put there on purpose or had just ended up jammed there in someone's haste to shut the drawer quickly.
She'd only caught a brief glimpse of the handwriting before placing it in her pocket and racing out of the library to where she'd located the guest room earlier. It seemed familiar, but Hermione couldn't immediately place it and wasn't going to take the time right then to try.
Guest rooms were honestly a hit-or-miss when it came to hiding places. After all, most people wouldn't think to hide something in a room designed to have people staying within it. Especially considering that every guest searched the guest room. But the truly clever people realized how brilliant it was to hide things there. After all, most guest were only casual snoopers. They glanced in the closets and medical cabinets. Possibly under the bed and in the dresser drawers if they really wanted to feel like they'd done the job right.
But their efforts rarely went beyond that; if snooping was the primary goal, their focus would be on the rest of the house. When a home was broken into, a guest room would be mainly left alone besides having the obvious valuables taken, because everyone assumed there was nothing of worth there.
By its very existence, a guest room was a room that was searched by the most people, yet somehow the least examined room in the house.
If this had been one of her usual targets, Hermione wouldn't have bothered searching any guest rooms she'd found. Purebloods were truly the worst at hiding things, and it was very easy- and repetitive- to find their treasured objects. Most of them hid things in the exact same places and used similar wards to protect them; it was one of the main downsides to the same set of families constantly inter-marrying. Aside the whole unstable descendants and large amounts of infertility, of course. Honestly, it was more challenging just finding some of the manor homes than finding anything in them.
But this wasn't a manor and Savage wasn't a pureblood. Rip claimed that she was recruited for this mission because she was apparently on the same level as Savage. Therefore, she was essentially just going through the home checking in the all the spots she herself was hiding things in.
Vandal Savage seemed to think in much the same manner as her- which was a nauseating notion, and she could only chalk it up to the learned stealth her years on the run and her experience as a thief brought her. That thought guiding her to stashes of papers hidden in a loose floorboard in the corner by the dresser, a hidden panel in the closet, and a handful of documents hidden into the box spring. It was only as she was searching the dresser that she found anything genuinely surprising.
When she pulled out the dresser drawers, she quickly realized that the size of the drawers didn't match the depth of the dresser. Hermione pulled a drawer all the way out to see if anything had been stuffed behind it but found only a wooden wall. Using magic to turn the dresser around, Hermione pried off the back and found a long wooden case. The wood was worn smooth with age, so, clearly, Savage had been carrying this with him for quite some time.
Hermione was sure that Savage had dozens, if not hundreds, of properties scattered across the globe. This house was just one of many temporary spaces that could be abandoned in an instant and therefore wouldn't hold all that much valuable information. So, she was honestly surprised at the number of things she'd found. Clearly it was bought for the sole purpose of luring in anyone looking for the dagger. But if this house wasn't intended as a long-term space, why would Savage bring anything of true value here?
Despite the time constraints, Hermione couldn't resist opening the locks. Since she was unwilling to risk the contents by using any magic on it that might trigger a trap, Hermione was forced to dig out her kit andpick the lock by hand. When she finally managed to unlock it and lifted the top, she was horrified by what she saw. And in that moment, when everything else in her brain had been temporarily banished by a wave of sheer dread, Hermione realized who the handwriting on the letter belonged to.
Why did Savage have these?
And why the hell was Antonin Dolohov writing to him?
"It's all good," Jax reassured Rip, Sara, Carter, and Kendra joined them outside the house. "Savage is down."
Carter shook his head. "Savage cannot be defeated by earthly means."
Jax shrugged. "Well, I hit him with a nuclear blast, so, you know, not that earthly."
"Where's Hermione?" Sara asked Leonard.
"No idea," he answered coolly.
"She was fighting Savage before Jax showed up," Ray piped in. "She disappeared afterwards."
Rip glanced over at the house. "I'm assuming she wasn't finished searching the house."
Sara also looked over at the house. "Should we go in and find her?"
After a moment's pause, Rip shook his head. "She'll be fine on her own."
Leonard could still see the way Hermione moved when dodging Savage's attacks, hear the sound of her laughter. He was positive that she could take care of herself but was less sure about whether or not she should have to. After all, they were a team.
"We got company," Mick announced as a group of armed men started making their way towards them.
"Friends of Savage," Rip sighed. Tossing Ray his miniaturized suit from his pocket, he stated, "You'll be needing this. Don't leave any pieces of it behind this time."
Pulling out the dagger from where he'd tucked it into his sleeve, Leonard offered it to Carter. "Go get that son of bitch."
Carter took the dagger from him and glanced at Kendra. "Are you ready to end this?"
She gave a firm nod in response. "We've only been waiting 4,000 years."
They took off into the air together, soaring over the roof of the house.
Kendra and Carter landed lightly on the back porch, where Savage was slowly picking himself up.
Glancing over at them, Savage greeted Kendra in Egyptian. "Hello, my love. I hope you've been well."
When Carter pulled out the dagger, Savage simply raised a brow and switched to English. "The Aman Dagger. Of all the knives I've collected across the centuries, that one is my favorite."
Carter lunged at Savage, knocking them both to the ground. After a brief tussle, Carter had Savage pinned beneath him. "And though my soul departs the Earth…" he began reciting, plunging the dagger into the other man's chest.
Savage choked on his own blood for a moment and Carter felt a wave of confidence and relief because their nightmare was finally over. But then, Savage laughed. "Such a beautiful poem," he mocked. "I remember it well." He wrapped his hands around Carter's wrists and began slowly pushing him away, the dagger sliding out of his chest. "Though, as you can see, I can make the dagger do its work without it." Twisting the dagger around, he plunged it into Carter's chest.
"Carter!" Kendra screamed.
Blood began pooling in Carter's mouth and trickling down his lips. Savage grinned, levering himself upright and dragging Carter with him, causing the knife to slice deeper into his gut.
"This was your lover's blade," he hissed, a malicious grin playing on his lips. "It must be her hand that wields it." Abruptly pulling the blade out, Carter collapsed onto the ground and Savage turned to face Kendra. "Something to consider in your next life."
Kendra finally unfroze, charging at Savage, who easily pushed her aside. Landing with a thud on the ground next to her lover, Kendra took a moment to catch her breath and toss her helmet aside before dragging herself to Carter.
"Carter," she sobbed, pulling off his helmet and into her lap. "It's okay," she tried to reassure him. "You're going to be okay."
Carter stared up at her. "I will wait through eternity," he vowed, shaking slightly.
Frantically shaking her head, Kendra begged him. "Please, save your strength."
"Come back to me," Carter whispered.
"No," she cried.
Savage grinned, ready for Carter's lifeforce to transfer to him.
Carter stiffened and Kendra let out a heart-wrenching wail. After a moment though, Savage frowned. Carter was dead. So why hadn't…
A golden glow surrounded Carter, jolting Kendra out of her grief.
Hermione dropped down from the roof into the space between the fallen demigods and their hunter. "No," she snarled, tossing a wall of fire towards the immortal. "You won't touch them. If you want them, you'll have to go through me first."
Savage's coat had caught on fire and he was forced to toss it aside. "Interesting," he murmured, glancing between Hermione and Carter.
Reaching up a hand, Hermione turned her comm back on. "Carter and Kendra are down. We need backup."
"On our way," Sara answered.
"Tell me, Sahira, what magic is this?" Savage asked, making no move towards them.
"You mean after 4,000 years of existence, there are things you still don't know? That's a confidence booster if I've ever heard one," she remarked dryly.
Kendra didn't know what was happening. She stared down at her fallen lover, desperately trying to keep her grief from overwhelming her. He was dead.
Carter was dead, and she finally remembered.
He died thinking she didn't love him and that hurt worse than any death Savage had subjected them to.
Savage and Hermione were fighting now, blast of lights casting shadows around them and pieces of stone skittering down on the ground by her knees, but Kendra didn't move.
Footsteps approached them and then Rip was kneeling next to her. "What is this?" he asked, his hand hovering over Carter's glowing form.
"Hermione," Kendra finally choked out.
As if she had been summoned, Hermione appeared next to them. The scarf previously hiding her identity was gone and Kendra distantly wondered when and how she had lost it. "Take Kendra and go," she ordered.
"No," Kendra vehemently denied, shaking her head. "I'm not leaving him."
There was a hand on her chin and her face was tilted up to meet Hermione's warm brown eyes. "We're not leaving Carter, Kendra. I promise. I need you to go back to the ship." When Kendra continued to hesitate, Hermione let go of her long enough to dig something out of her pocket and then knelt down, pressing it into Kendra's hand. "Take this back to the ship. Once you're safely on board, let me know and I will use the magic attached to this object to bring Carter to you. I give you my word- I will bring him back to you."
Come back to me.
Kendra sobbed, allowing herself to be pulled up. "He's dead. I didn't get to tell him. I didn't get to tell him it came back to me. I finally remembered…. And I didn't get to tell him!"
Stepping back, Hermione glanced over her shoulder to where Savage was regrouping. "He's not dead." The group froze and she look back at them with a twisted grin. "You're not the only one who enjoys bending the rules of time," she told Rip.
Rip glanced between Hermione and Carter, seemingly in shock. "That's Dark magic," he finally said.
"A matter of perspective, Hunter. Dark, Light, it doesn't matter. Magic is magic; it's what you do with it that matters. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a psychopath to rile up."
Before she could race off, Leonard grabbed her wrist. "You sure about this?" he murmured.
Hermione forced herself to stop and face him. She really wished that she hadn't let Savage get close enough to pull off her scarf. "I'll be fine. Just… don't dawdle."
Cool blue eyes scanned her face for any misgivings and then his hand slowly slipped away. "Wouldn't dream of it."
"You really weren't the one I was concerned about," Hermione admitted, glancing at Kendra. At the end of the porch, Savage was pulling himself through the window Hermione had threw him out of. Turning back to face him, Hermione carefully noted Savage's friends were making their way towards her as the rest of the team raced from the house.
Twenty men with guns versus one witch. Not even close to a fair fight. Hopefully their families wouldn't mourn their deaths too much.
Several cars pulled up beside the house and more men came pouring out.
"Now, that's just unfair," she complained to Savage, taking a defensive position in front of her fallen comrade.
"Since when have either of us been foolish enough to fight fair?" he returned, grinning. "After all, that's what makes this fun."
Hermione smirked, silently activating the wards she'd placed around the perimeter of the house. "Can't argue with you there. Suppose I'll just have to step up my game."
Raising her wand in the air, she shouted, "Fiendfyre."
The moment the team was back on the ship, Rip barked into the comm, "Get back to the ship, Hermione. Now."
For a second, the comm remained silent and Leonard feared the worst. And then it crackled to life. "Impeccable timing, Rip. I have definitely caused an international incident and am in need of a quick getaway. Have Kendra set the gum wrapper down on the floor, and step back a good distance."
Nodding at the still crying woman, Rip waited for her to place the crumbled wrapper on the ground and then pulled her back to stand next to the wall beside him. "Done."
A moment later, Hermione and Carter appeared in the room in a blaze of light. "Move," she barked. She flicked her wand and Carter's still-glowing body rose into the air. "I'll take him to the Med-Bay. Someone go to my room and get the brown, leather satchel on the shelf beside my bed."
"On it," Sara responded, racing out the room.
Hermione and Carter followed after her, veering off once they were up the stairs.
"How'd she manage to do that without hitting his head against anything?" Ray whispered.
"C'mon man," Jax hissed. "Not the time."
"It's obvious she's quite experienced in using magic," Martin added. "Clearly she's had to do something similar before."
"As fascinating as this conversation is," Rip interrupted, shouldering past them with a now seemingly catatonic Kendra in his arms, "I do believe it's best that I get Ms. Saunders to the Med-Bay and have Gideon give her a sedative before Ms. Granger starts working on Mr. Hall."
While the three men hurried after the Captain, Leonard and Mick hung back. "So, magic, huh?" Mick muttered. "You knew she could do that?"
"No, but it certainly does explain a lot."
Hermione glanced over at Rip as she strapped Carter down, fully prepared to order him to get out, but paused at she took in Kendra's condition.
"Get her a sedative and then leave," she finally told him. "No one's allowed in here while I'm working."
Martin frowned. "But-"
"Let me be clear," she interrupted. "You either walk out that door on your own, or I will turn you into an animal of my choosing and leave you like that until I feel like changing you back. And yes, the process is as painful as you would imagine it to be."
"Can you really do that?" Ray asked, expression caught somewhere between amazed and horrified.
"She can," Rip answered shortly, setting Kendra down on an empty bed just long enough for Gideon to administer a sedative before picking her back up and hurrying out of the room.
"Are you really going to go along with this?" Martin demanded, clearly annoyed at being denied the chance to see just what Hermione's magic could do.
"Considering the fact that we are currently hoping that Ms. Granger can pull off what is tantamount to a miracle of biblical proportions, the least we can do is allow her to work in peace."
Sara came racing down the hall then, bag in hand. Pushing past them, she raced to Hermione and handed it to her. "Need anything else?"
"Not at the moment," she answered, opening the bag and letting her hand hover over it. Seconds later, several small bottles appeared to fly out of the bag and into her hand. "Just make sure the others don't disturb me while I'm working."
"Will do." Sara hesitated in the doorway, turning back to Hermione. "Are you sure you can do this?"
Hermione paused, hands hovering over the bloody wound in Carter's chest. "He doesn't get to win," she finally responded. "Not anymore. And if I have to break every code I've ever lived by- if I have to tear through the fundamental laws of time and magic to stop him, then that's a choice I will gladly make."
Sara finally understood why Rip was so convinced that Hermione was their key to winning. "Alright, but will you survive doing it?"
"Of course. After all, that's what I do best."
It had been hours. Hours spent waiting and pacing, first outside the Med-Bay and then in the main room. They had no idea what was going on or how Carter was doing, and, as busy as the witch was, Gideon hadn't been able to ask Hermione for an update.
Rip attempted to distract himself by trying to figure out where Savage went next but was distracted by the reports being generated about the fire that had, quite literally, incinerated Savage's house. The fire had been so hot that the marshals who responded to the scene couldn't tell if anyone had been in the house at the time because every single inch had been reduced to ash. Which wasn't all that surprising when taking into account that eyewitnesses claimed that the fire had been blue and white.
"Did Hermione do that?" Jax asked, scanning over the documents with Martin, Ray, and Leonard.
"I think it's safe to assume she did," Ray answered. "I know she said that she planned on burning down the house when she was done searching it, but I didn't think she was serious."
"Can't believe she didn't include me," Mick muttered. "Burning is my thing."
"Even your gun can't make fires that hot," Leonard informed him. "Pretty sure a fire that intense hasn't been seen outside a laboratory, wouldn't you agree, Stein?"
"That is correct, much as it pains me to say so. No normal fire generates a pure blue and white flame like what is being reported, no matter how much accelerant is being used. Though, the possibilities that chemicals were being used at the time could account for the strange shapes and creatures that witnesses claim they saw in the flames."
"Cursed fire," Rip muttered, running a hand through his hair. "She had to have used cursed fire."
"What's cursed fire?" Mick asked.
"It is what it sounds like, Mr. Rory- a fire that has been magically enchanted. Incredibly taxing to produce, and almost impossible to control."
"If it's that hard to make, then it's not what Hermione used," Sara interjected from her seat beside an almost-unresponsive Kendra. "She wouldn't risk exhausting herself that much when she knew that she needed to save Carter."
"You seem awfully familiar with magic," Leonard noted, studying Rip closely. "You knew Hermione had it and is capable of nearly impossible magic-it's why you recruited her. Begs the question: do you have magic?"
"No, I don't," he glowered at Leonard. "I just know someone that did their graduate thesis at the Academy on the evolution of spells in the Wizarding World."
"Sounds boring," Mick told him.
Gideon's head suddenly appeared in the center console. "My apologies for interrupting, Captain, but I thought you would like to know that Miss Granger has finished treating Mr. Hall. His vitals all appear to be functioning normally."
Kendra was out of her seat and down the hall before Gideon had even finished. The others hurried after her, eager to see what had happened for themselves.
When they arrived, Carter was still asleep and Kendra was hovering over him, running her hands over his face and chest. Hermione was collapsed against the wall beside his bed, head tilted back and looking unnaturally pale.
Leonard strode quickly across the room and knelt down next to her before the others had even noticed that something was wrong.
"You okay?" he murmured, reaching out and placing a hand on her cheek.
Hermione's head tilted towards him and she blinked slowly. "I'm fine," she finally answered. "Just used too much magic."
"You need food? Water?"
"Just sleep," she sighed, shifting again and nuzzling his hand. "Right as rain after I sleep."
"Really?" Leonard asked, pulling away from her for a moment to reposition himself before carefully lifting her into his arms. "All you need a good night's sleep and then you'll be fine?"
"More than a night," she slurred, resting her head on his shoulder. "Lots more. So much sleep."
"She okay?" Jax asked, stepping out of Leonard's way.
"Super great," Hermione tried to tell him. "Like Frosted Flakes."
Sara snorted. "She sounds drunk."
Hermione lifted her head up, gazing blearily in Sara's direction. "I do not drink," she loudly announced. "Because I am not fun."
Leonard bit down hard on his lower lip, trying desperately not to laugh. "I'll get her to bed."
"I'll come with you," Sara stated.
He stiffened, gaze going cold. "What, don't trust me?"
"More like I don't trust her," the blonde answered, glancing at the brunette in his arms. "Drunk people- or punch drunk, in this case- are loose cannons. And she probably shouldn't sleep in that outfit."
"Wait!" Kendra finally pulled herself away from Carter and rushed over to them. "Thank you," she told Hermione fervently, cheeks still stained with tear tracks. "You saved him. I'll never be able to repay you for that."
The exhaustion seemed to instantly leave Hermione and the look she gave Kendra was entirely lucid. "Can I give you a piece of advice?" she asked.
Kendra seemed surprised but nodded.
"You seem like you're the kind of person who would fight tooth and nail against the idea of a pre-determined destiny simply because you can. I respect that. But don't. The game is rigged for you; your fate is set. And it's not because of anything you've done but because of everything Savage has.
"He decided long ago that your destinies were entangled and there's no escaping that now. Too much has happened for you to change it. Either you kill Savage, or he kills you. It may not be fair, but it is what it is. So, please accept your fate and stop risking all of our lives because you're afraid of accepting who and what you are."
Kendra flinched at the harshness of her words but nodded, surprising Leonard with her acceptance. "You're right. I was totally useless back there. I'll do better."
Hermione watched her for a moment longer before finally nodding in satisfaction. "Good." Then she dropped her head back onto Leonard's shoulder. "I am going to sleep now. If anyone bothers me, I will skin you alive."
Ray flinched at her words, but Mick just laughed. "You can't even walk."
"Walking is for losers," she told him and fisted Leonard's shirt in her hands to pull herself up enough to whisper the rest of her thought in his ear. "That's why Ray does it so much. And Mick. He probably walks a lot."
Leonard couldn't hold back a chuckle as he finally managed to get out of the room and down the hall to where their personal quarters were located. "That he does." He glanced down at Hermione and she smiled up at him for a moment before burying her face in his neck.
When they got to her room, Leonard hesitated before the bed. "You think you can stand long enough for us to help you get changed?"
"Why?" Hermione whined, her voice muffled from where it danced across his skin.
"Because I'm guessing you have a lot of weapons hidden in that outfit and I'm sure that can't be comfortable to sleep in," Sara answered.
"Oh. That." Lifting her arm up slightly, Hermione twitched her fingers and her black, skintight outfit suddenly disappeared, leaving her in nothing more than a tank top and underwear in Leonard's arms.
"Well, that's handy," Sara laughed, walking over to the bed and pulling the covers back.
Carefully setting her down, Leonard forced his eyes not to linger on her legs. He was a gentleman, after all- he wasn't going to stare at her when she wasn't awake to see it. As he was pulling his arms away, he spotted a thin scar on her neck that clearly came from a knife. Leonard wondered what the story behind that was about.
It was the scar on her arm that really caught his attention. He tried to get a closer look at it, but Hermione seemed to instinctively keep it tucked against her chest. All Leonard could see was that part of the mark kind of looked like the letter d.
"Leonard," Hermione murmured, eyes closed. "Bed?"
"Yeah," he told her softly. "Go to bed."
"… be here when I wake up?"
He stiffened, intensely aware of Sara's eyes on him. "No, but I'll be close by. Let Gideon know if you need me."
"Alright," she sighed. "Night."
Giving into his instincts, Leonard ran his fingers lightly through her hair before leaning over and pressing a kiss to her forehead. "Get some sleep."
As they walked out, Leonard waited for Sara to say something.
"Sweet dreams, Snart," she told him, heading towards her room.
Leonard stood there a moment before turning in the opposite direction and walking away.