Chapter 5
When Hermione awoke the next day, all she wanted to do was get something to eat, drink as much water as she could stomach, and then go back to sleep. The amount of energy she had expended to keep Carter from dying was so massive that a single night's rest wasn't going to be enough to recover from it. Her body needed nourishment and then more sleep- several days' worth, in fact.
"Miss Granger," Gideon abruptly called as Hermione rolled out bed. "Your presence is requested by Captain Hunter."
She rolled her eyes. "Request denied." It was bad enough that she was going to have to leave her room in order to get food, she wasn't willing to stay awake any longer than she absolutely had to.
Stumbling down the two steps leading up to her bed, Hermione stopped short at the collection of non-perishable food, fruit, and bottles of water on the floor in front of her door. "Who…" she murmured.
"Mr. Snart brought those for you after he and Miss Lance brought you to your room."
Hermione could feel herself turning red. Leonard. Now there was a complicated subject. She couldn't help reliving their kiss. It was… unexpected. And unwelcome.
Probably.
Well, it should be at least. They barely knew each other. And remembering what he'd said, Hermione knew that Leonard wouldn't allow himself to be a simple fling. If they started this, it was going to be either all in or nothing at all.
They were working as a team in extremely close quarters. It was foolish to allow herself to even entertain the idea of trying anything with Leonard. Especially considering her past track record.
Foolish. Reckless. Selfish disregard for the thoughts and feelings of others.
It had been years since those words had been spat, but she could still hear them as clear as ever.
"My apologies, Miss Granger, but Captain Hunter is insisting you join them."
Finally moving again, Hermione shuffled over to the door and grabbed an energy bar, a banana, and a bottle of water. "Remind Captain Hunter that I nearly killed myself saving Carter's life and am entitled to a suitable recovery period before being forced to continue assisting in his harebrained, directionless mission."
Hermione twisted off the top of the bottle and greedily drank half of it in one go. She then collected a second bottle of water and set her items on the bed before wandering to the restroom. After she was finished and back in her room, Gideon spoke again.
"Captain Hunter has asked that I remind you that time is of the essence."
"We're in a time machine!" Hermione exclaimed, feeling the beginning of a migraine creeping on her. "Time is relative!"
While a large part of her wanted to completely dismiss Rip's requests without another thought, the smaller piece of her that was still a loyal team player worried that he wasn't just being a pain for no reason.
"Please ask Mr. Snart if my presence is truly needed or if it can wait."
If Leonard really was sincere in his interest, then hopefully he'd be honest about whether she needed to join them. To be fair, even if he wasn't sincere, Hermione felt like they were friendly enough with each other that he would still tell the truth.
"Mr. Snart says that you should return to bed and that all requests from Captain Hunter should be ignored until you are good and ready to come out."
Hermione couldn't tell if the faint distaste in Gideon's voice came from having to repeat Leonard's message- though she was positive that at least some of it was paraphrased- or if she didn't appreciate telling someone on the ship to ignore the direct orders of her captain.
"Lovely. In that case, Gideon, I'm requesting a complete communications blackout to my room for the next ten hours unless it is truly a matter of life or death."
"Understood."
Climbing back into bed, Hermione slowly ate her food and finished the first bottle of water before tossing her rubbish aside and slipping under the covers.
Right before Hermione fell back asleep, she swore she could feel fingers gently running through her hair and a light kiss on her forehead.
Exactly ten hours later, Hermione was roused from her room. The migraine she had hoped would disappear with more sleep was still there and she'd had to take a pain potion. Hopefully the potion and copious amounts of water would do the trick.
After pulling on some pants and an oversized jumper, Hermione dragged herself in the control room, blearily glaring at everyone as she threw herself into the empty seat between Sara and Leonard. "What's going on?" she murmured, shifting sideways and curling into a ball, burying her head in her knees.
"You okay?" Sara asked.
Hermione shook her head slightly. "Head."
There was blessed-silence for a moment before Sara asked, "If you're cool with it, I know something that might help. I'm gonna have to touch you though."
"Alright," she slowly agreed. "But if you do anything weird, I reserve the right to stab you."
"So violent," the blond teased, and then Hermione felt fingers at the base of her skull.
She didn't know what Sara was doing but Hermione guessed it had something to do with pressure points. Whatever it was, the pain in her head disappeared enough for her to function. "You're amazing and have my undying devotion."
Sara laughed and Hermione felt something tap against her side. Lifting her head up, she shifted enough to see Leonard holding out a water bottle. "Hydration," he offered.
"Thank you," she told him, forcing a smile and suddenly very aware of the mark on her jaw that was hopefully still hidden by her mess of curls.
And then the memory hit her. "Did I tell you that I didn't drink because I wasn't fun?" Hermione demanded, scowling.
Leonard smirked. "Yes, you did. You also said that walking is for losers."
Hermione groaned, hiding her face in her hands. "That's embarrassing. But I guess it's better that you find out sooner rather than later that I'm not a good time."
"You're awake," Rip loudly called, striding out of his office with Carter and Kendra at his heels. Both appeared to be in much better health, and Hermione was relieved to see that Carter seemingly wasn't suffering under any unusual side effects. She hadn't expected him to be awake already, but perhaps that magic giving him the ability to reincarnate may also help him heal quickly. Hermione would have to run some tests when she got the chance.
"Only in the literal sense of the word," Hermione sneered. "Would you please explain what is so pressing that I can't even get a few days to recover after using such a large amount of magic that it would have killed a lesser being? And for the love of god, do it quietly."
"We need to debrief," he announced.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" she snapped. "You dragged me out of bed for this?"
"It is imperative that we know what you were able to find in Savage's house," Rip reminded her.
"We tried to stop him," Jax told her. "But he wouldn't shut up about it. And these dudes were no help," he gestured to Leonard, Mick, and Ray. "They just keep fighting."
"Everything was going to plan until these two decided to be greedy," Ray instantly stated.
"Is that how the alarm was triggered?" Hermione asked. "Because you tried to stop Leonard from stealing items that were probably already stolen?"
"Some of the items in the cases were armed," he explained, folding his arms across his chest. "The alarm went off when one of them was moved from its case."
Hermione sighed. "Leonard would have known to check for any traps so, let me guess: you tried to stop him and in the ensuing fight, one of you knocked into the case and an item fell over." Ray flushed and Hermione sighed, slumping over so her forehead rested on her knees again. "Just when I think that I couldn't possibly think less of you, you somehow manage to exceed expectations."
"The point of the mission was to get the dagger," Ray reminded her, his tone a lovely combination of both self-righteousness and long-suffering.
"No, Ray, the point of the mission is to find a way to end Savage- that is the point of every mission." She straightened back up in her seat and glared at the scientist. "We walked into that house knowing it belonged to Savage. Now, say we had managed to get in and out clean. If we left with only the dagger, Savage would have been absolutely certain that it was us who took it, and that Carter or Kendra would be waiting in the wings for the perfect moment to strike.
"He would have been prepared and eagerly awaiting them. However, if multiple objects had been taken from his home- all of which were seemingly valuable and would be attractive to a thief- then there would be the smallest of chances that it wasn't actually us who broke in. And that would leave Savage feeling paranoid and slightly off-guard. He would try and tell himself that we were the most likely culprits, but that nagging question would still haunt his every step- what if he's wrong? And for a man like Savage, that possibility would change everything."
It was silent for a moment before Ray reluctantly admitted, "I did not think of that."
"Well, color me surprised," Hermione sneered. "At this point, Ray, I have to wonder if critical thinking is a skill you possess at all."
"Hermione," Rip cautioned. "Perhaps now is not the time for this."
"No, Rip, now is the perfect time to be doing this," she snapped. "We need to deal with this right here and right now."
Tilting her chin up slightly, Hermione leveled a hard stare towards Ray. "You have locked yourself into a tight little box formed by the moral code you stand by that, at the end of the day, is as insignificant as you are. You look down your nose at Mick, Leonard, and I because we don't subscribe to the same ambiguous principles that you live by. You think you're better than us because you like to call yourself a hero. What you have failed to realize is that, once upon a time, I was a hero too.
"I was more of a hero than you have ever been. And it's not because I did good deeds or lived a life of truth and justice- it's because I was willing to do whatever it took to do the right thing. I lied and I hurt and I stole and I did so many things that I'm sure you would consider wrong and I did that, not because I was hoping to be remembered as a 'hero' or a 'legend', but because it was the only way to stop the 'villain'.
"You're not a hero, Ray. If anything, I'd say that with that attitude, you're closer to being a villain. You act the way you do because, in your mind, we are beneath you and you let your own assumptions and biases about who we are and what we do dictate how you treat us. You're a prejudiced arsehole with more money than sense and if you can't scrap together enough intelligence to remove your head from your arse long enough to be useful then please, do us all a favor and go ahead and remove yourself from the team."
There was a long, uncomfortable pause before Ray finally said, "You're right." Hermione raised an eyebrow, waiting from him to go on. "I've been a judgmental jerk. I've made assumptions about you, Leonard, and Mick because of your backgrounds. However, regardless of your pasts, we're a team. And I need to start acting like it. I need to start giving you all the benefit of the doubt; I need to stop assuming that, just because I know things about you, that it means I know you."
Hermione sighed. "Talk is cheap, Ray. And for the record, I knew nothing about you before getting on this ship. And yet, in the short span of time we've had together, my opinion of you is so low, that the only way it could fall any further is if it turns out that you enjoy running over children in your spare time."
It was only through sheer force of will that Hermione didn't add that she hoped Ray understood what a substandard human being he was that the first adjectives she'd ascribed to him after initially meeting him were biased, prejudiced, and ignorant. Saying that would only cause the team to turn on her.
"I… appreciate your honesty," he finally told her. "Hopefully, I can raise the bar a little higher for myself."
Apparently, she and Mick had similar trains of thought in this because he muttered, "Wouldn't hold my breath if I were you."
"Perhaps we should get back on track," Martin offered after a moment of silence. "What happened after the alarm was triggered?"
As Leonard, Ray, and Mick continued recounting what had happened, Hermione sat in stunned silence.
None of that had happened.
She hadn't fought Savage while Leonard and Ray where trapped in a cage, she hadn't argued with him in a way that implied she had far more knowledge of him than she currently possessed, she hadn't cut his face using Bellatrix's dagger, and she hadn't run away once the others arrived.
Hermione had been upstairs, with Leonard. Leonard, who mentioned that he had been locked in a cage downstairs. Who was able to lay her doubts and concerns out in front of her like they were simple truths that he was aware of. Who was, apparently, also downstairs trapped with Ray watching Savage threaten Mick.
Leonard, who had kissed her like it was something he had done before and would never get enough of doing.
"Hermione?" She blinked, looking over at Rip. "Does that match up with what you remember?"
"You accusing us of lying?" Mick demanded.
"I…" Hermione trailed off, mind sluggishly trying to sort through too many thoughts. She had been upstairs. But she had also apparently been downstairs fighting Savage- and, based on their description of what she did and said, Hermione had no doubt that it was indeed her. Which could only mean… "I was searching the library upstairs. I heard a noise and then… I thought you all had it handled and I needed to finished searching the upstairs, so I did. I came back in time to see Savage stabbing Carter."
Everything she said was the carefully worded truth, yet Carter was still looking at her with a hint of confused suspicion.
She ran a shaky hand over her eyes, squeezing them closed and trying to push past the blinding headache that had returned and was currently throbbing against her forehead. She was so tired.
They could have broken time. They could have ruined everything. So, why risk it? Why take that chance? What was the point? What were they looking for?
Gods, she just wanted to go back to sleep. She was so exhausted that she could cry.
Why did Leonard kiss her? Was it just to distract her? Was it all just a game?
When Hermione looked over at him, she wasn't surprised to find him already looking at her.
"Are you saying you haven't thought about it? Thought about you and me?"
"Did you find anything useful when searching the house?" Rip asked her.
"Yes," she sighed, forcing herself to turn away from Leonard and his all-seeing gaze. "I obviously haven't gone through most of it. And what I did go through is disturbing to say the least."
"Like what?" Jax asked warily.
"For starters, this." Hermione grabbed her bag- thankful that she had remembered to grab it before leaving her room- and carefully pulled out the wooden case she'd absconded from Savage's house with. The stunned looks she received at the sight of her pulling a box almost the length of her arm from a tiny purse was amusing. Most of the people she associated with now were ones who were used to her ways, and those that weren't generally didn't hang around long enough to learn her tricks.
Forcing herself to stand, Hermione brought the box over to Carter and Kendra. "I think these are yours."
Eying the box warily, Carter took it and set it on the center console. "What is it?"
"Open it and find out." She was truly hoping that the two would be able to confirm her suspicions once they actually looked inside the box and she didn't want to risk contaminating her hypothesis by swaying their thoughts.
Now everyone was warily staring. After glancing briefly at Kendra, Carter undid the latches and lifted the lid.
"What the-" Ray started, rearing back.
"Is that…" Sara trailed off, standing up to get a better look.
Hermione didn't take her eyes off of Carter and Kendra. Their expressions told her everything she needed to know.
"These are ours?" Kendra murmured, reaching out a hand before quickly pulling it back as if she'd been shocked.
Even Rip seemed thrown.
"So, he's keeping your skulls as trophies," Leonard stated, moving to stand behind Hermione.
"Neat," Mick commented, and Hermione choked back a slightly hysterical laugh.
"I think the term you're looking for is 'revolting'," Martin snapped.
"No," Mick told him. "I meant what I said."
"Why the hell would he be keeping these?" Jax demanded. "Is he keeping all of them?"
"May I?" Hermione asked Carter, who tore his gaze away from the four skulls resting in clearly specially made case to look at her. His eyes were wide, and she could see demigod in him- the warrior- trying to claw its way out. After a long moment, he gave a jerky nod and Hermione plucked out one of the skulls.
"If you look closely, you can see tiny nicks imbedded into the bone." She carefully turned the skull and highlighted some of the different areas so that the others could see what she was talking about. "I've seen these kind marks on bones from the ruins of Aztec temples. Without asking Savage, I can't say with absolutely surety, but it's highly likely that he's-"
"He's eating them?!" Ray cried. "Savage is a cannibal?!"
"Oh god," Kendra moaned, stumbling back and covering her eyes with her hand.
"It's not as uncommon as you would think," Hermione continued, unperturbed. "While it's not seen as much in the rest of the world, there are certain factions of the magical communities that do practice cannibalistic rituals."
Everyone was gaping at her again. "Do you…" Sara started, clearly unsure about whether or not she actually wanted an answer.
"No!" Hermione exclaimed, wrinkling her nose. "Gods, no. It's a barbaric practice only done by the truly depraved or the truly desperate. I am neither of those things."
"Do you think Savage is practicing one of those rituals?" Rip asked.
"Honestly? I don't know. I know that ingesting the flesh of a creature with magic can give a person abilities, depending on the creature and how powerful they are. I'm just not sure what abilities eating Carter and Kendra could be giving him that would be worth the time and effort."
"We're not magical," Carter reminded her. "Kendra was originally a priestess, but she hasn't shown any magical abilities in any of her other lives."
"You reincarnate," Hermione responded. "That's a magical process and it leaves its traces." It was almost similar to a phoenix. "Off the top of my head, I'd assume that… eating you… may be able to extend one's life. Though, since Savage is immortal, I'm not sure how that would be of any benefit to him. Unless doing so would simply give him the same sort of power-boost that killing you does. There is, of course, the possibility that he's just skinning you. In fact, for the skulls at least, I think it's highly unlikely he's removing the flesh and tissue in order to ingest it."
"I can't believe we're having this conversation," Ray muttered.
"I can't believe you didn't know that Savage was a cannibal," Leonard told Rip. "Seems like a pretty important detail for you to miss."
"It's not as though he's advertising the fact," Rip argued.
"What do you think he did with the rest of the body?" Mick asked idly.
"Bringing the rest of the body would just be excessive," Hermione flippantly replied before she could stop herself. "And skulls make a statement."
"What if Savage isn't the one benefiting from this?" Jax asked. When everyone turned to look at him, he shrugged awkwardly and continued, "You said that someone could get their life extended by doing this. What if it's not Savage that's doing the ritual? What if he's doing this to extend someone else's life?"
"Does Savage have any followers?" Sara asked Rip. "Specifically, ones that seemed to live for far too long?"
"I have no idea," he admitted. "There are no records indicating that but, as you're well aware, there isn't a whole lot of information about Savage out there in general."
"What about you two?" Leonard turned to Carter and Kendra. "You've been meeting with Savage on a pretty consistent basis. Anything stand out to you?"
Carter frowned down at the table and Kendra glanced over at him as she said, "I only have some of my memories. Nothing stands out to me though."
"India," Carter finally stated. When Kendra just looked at him in confusion, he elaborated, "When we were living in India in the 1600s, we lived near a port city. Foreigners weren't uncommon. Savage found us and I remember that he had several white men with him. In our next life, we were born in France. When Savage found us again, he had some of the same men with him. I thought that they were just descendants, that he continued to recruit people from the same bloodline. If Jax is right though, then they could have been the same people."
"If Savage is helping these people, then they would have to be his most trusted and devoted followers," Hermione hypothesized. "He wouldn't waste his time and energy on just anyone."
"It would also explain how he was able to track Kendra and Carter down," Rip continued, beginning to tap on the screen of the center console. "Yes, they all have the ability to sense one another, but that's only if they're in close proximity. If Savage had loyal followers with longer lifespans, he could have been sending them off to scour the globe for our two demigods and then having them send word once they've been spotted."
"You can't know that for sure," Martin protested. "He could have an expansive network without those informants necessarily being his followers. Money has always talked, after all."
"No," Leonard disagreed, leaning back in his seat. "Savage wouldn't trust something as important as Carter and Kendra's existence to anyone that wasn't completely under his control. If I understand correctly," he turned to look at Hermione, who had just retaken her seat next to him, "Savage has to kill Kendra and Carter himself in order to power-up. All it takes is one person who wants to get back at him or that is over eager and then he's too late."
"He's right," Carter agreed. "Savage wouldn't risk it."
"We're getting off topic," Ray interjected. "I'll admit, this is all really disturbing and I'm definitely going to have nightmares tonight, but we need to figure out what our next move is."
"The most current location for Vandal Savage is in Leipzig, Germany," Gideon announced.
Hermione frowned. "Hasn't it only been a day or so since we left Louisiana?"
"Yeah," Sara answered. "Why?"
"A flight from the U.S. to Germany in the 70s would take almost 24 hours," the brunette answered, crossing one leg over the other and drumming her fingers absent-mindedly on her knee. "Savage would have had to leave St. Roch immediately after us and either find a flight to Germany or make use of a private aircraft."
Carter also seemed troubled. "He would have had to do the same thing in order to get from Norway to the U.S. in time to ambush you in his house."
"No," Martin disagreed. "It took us less than eight hours to get the particle tracker and find the missing piece from Ray's suit. We found my younger self, got the tracker, went back to Norway, found the missing suit piece, and then circled back to return the tracker. Savage was somehow already back in the U.S. by then. But Hermione's right, there's no way he could have made the journey in that amount of time with 70s technology."
"Yes," Rip agreed. "The only way he could have done so was with magic."
Letting her head fall against the back of her seat with a small thump, Hermione closed her eyes. "Shit."
She had feared that this was a possibility and now she had confirmation.
"What's wrong?" Mick asked.
Still keeping her eyes closed, Hermione started to explain. "Without going into too many details, there was a magical side to the conflict in World War II. The Wizarding World had its own version of Adolf Hitler that rose to power in Germany named Gellert Grindelwald. Unlike Hitler, his hatred wasn't as… diverse. It was a rather simple and long-standing conflict: magical beings vs. non-magicals. To some people in the Wizarding World, you all are little more than animals because you don't have magical blood running through your veins. For the most part though, the magical community is willing to just stay completely separate from the non-magical world and consider the problem solved. The trouble arises when magical children are born to non-magical parents."
"Wait, that's a thing?" Kendra interrupted. "Regular people can just spontaneously have magical kids?"
"Yes, but no one knows why it happens. However, that bit isn't really relevant to this. What is important, is how people in the Wizarding World want to deal with the problem. Some believe there should be a system in place to track down magical children after they're born and immediately remove them from their non-magical families."
"That is fucked up," Jax muttered.
"The other options aren't much better," Rip informed him softly.
Hermione opened her eyes and studied Rip for a moment, wondering just how much he knew about the Wizarding World. "No, they're not. The other two options are leaving magical children with their non-magical parents until they're old enough to attend magical schools that are hidden throughout the world, or simply killing the children since they are 'abominations'.
"The issue with the former idea is that magical children have magical outbursts. Imagine being a parent and having to deal with things like the curtains catching on fire when your child throws a tantrum, objects seeming to move into their cribs without cause, or even on rare occasions, your child simply disappearing without warning only to be found somewhere else. While there are some parents who try to make the best of things, we all know that there are also those who can be horribly cruel and those that just can't deal with children who aren't 'normal'.
"And then there are the wizards and witches who support killing off the children. These are individuals who come from a long line of magical ancestors. They are very big on keeping the bloodlines pure. Lucky for us, that kind of thinking caused their lines to become so inbred that they're unable to reproduce and their numbers are rapidly decreasing."
"This is all fascinating," Martin interjected. "However, I'm a little confused on its relevance."
"I'm getting there," Hermione snapped. "Those zealots were the one who fanatically supported Grindelwald. And they were recruited from all over the world. You've seen the Neo-Nazi groups that have been popping up in America and Germany now? Imagine those kinds of groups existing all over the world and holding positions of power within the governments. It was- and still is- chaos. The only thing governments could think to do in response was to completely isolate themselves once they'd stopped Grindelwald and try to sort themselves out without outside interference. Lockdown measures were instituted in every major magical community for almost a decade- including in Germany, the U.S., and Russia. Even when friendly relationships began to be reestablished, those three countries continued to have tense interactions until the early 90s. Vandal Savage- using a Russian name- just travelled from Norway to the U.S. where he apparently lives- and then to Germany using magical means of transportation."
"There has to be ways of traveling magically without the government knowing, right?" Ray asked.
"There are," Hermione allowed. "But they are extremely risky, and I highly doubt Savage needs to use them."
"So, how did Savage manage to get three governments who apparently hate each other to play nice with him?" Leonard mused.
"Savage isn't a wizard- he can resist and deflect spells, but he can't cast any of his own. On the surface, there is no reason for any magical people let alone organizations to be acting friendly towards him. If they're cooperating with him, then he must have given them a very good reason to."
"Did you find anything in the house to indicate why they might be helping him?" Rip asked Hermione.
"I don't know," she snapped, her frustration getting the better of her. "I was rather distracted by the fighting and the skulls. I did manage to grab a few other things, but I have no idea what they are, and I am not going to take a look at them until after I've gotten a few more hours of sleep."
"We could-" Ray started to offer.
"No." Hermione had already dismissed the idea. "If he is involved in the magical community and any of the documents I found contain information about that, it's going to be hidden. I don't want anyone else even touching those documents until I'm able to check for any magical traces."
"Surely that's a simple spell," Rip prodded. "Couldn't you just do it now and then give us anything non-magical."
"While you are right about it being a simple spell, you seem to be once again forgetting the fact that I used almost all of my magic saving Carter. I won't be casting any spells until I'm at least at half-strength." She couldn't blame Rip for seeming so frustrated, so Hermione added, "I should be somewhat better after a few more hours of sleep and a real meal."
Rip seemed to relax slightly at that. "Right then, let's wrap this up so you can go."
"What does Sahira mean?" Ray abruptly asked. "Savage kept calling you that."
"It means 'enchantress' in Arabic," Sara told him, glancing over at Hermione.
"Hey," Hermione interjected, pointing a finger at Sara. "It also means 'hag'. Let's think positively."
"Did anything else happened while you were searching the house?" Martin asked Hermione. "And, what happened after we departed for the ship?"
She thought about deep kisses and a warm body pressed tightly against hers. She thought about a letter from a monster who still haunted her nightmares on really bad nights. "Nothing else happened while searching the house. As for after you all left, Savage and I fought. I used a spell to conjure cursed fire, which killed most of his men and should have totally destroyed the house.
"I had hoped that it would also take out Savage for at least a little while but, considering he managed to travel all the way to Germany, he must have escaped. And probably found someone to help treat his burns. I'll have to wait till I see him again before I know for sure."
"Rip said that cursed fire takes a lot of energy to cast," Mick told her, brows furrowed. "How'd you manage to cast it and save Carter?"
"Rip's mistaken," Hermione answered simply, too exhausted to care what Rip had told them, or how he even knew anything about Fiendfyre. "It's easy enough to cast the spell. What's exhausting is controlling it. If you lose focus for even a moment, the curse can and will burn you too."
"So, how'd you manage it?" Jax asked. "You barely looked winded when you got back to the ship. If it's supposed to be exhausting controlling the flames, then I imagine it's gotta be just as hard to extinguish them."
"Oh, it is," she agreed, wincing. "That's why I didn't do that before I left."
It was silent for a moment before Rip exploded. "You didn't cast the countercurse?! You could have burned down the entire city before MACUSA could arrive on the scene! What were you thinking?!"
"I was thinking that I had a limited number of options available to me and that the risk vs. reward was acceptable. And since I obviously didn't burn down the entire city, clearly I had a plan going in, which you would have been able to infer for yourself if you head wasn't lodged so far up your-"
"This isn't helpful," Kendra interrupted, making a play at being a peacekeeper. "Why don't we take a break? We could all do with a little more rest before facing Savage again."
"You two aren't doing anything," Hermione told her, tone severe. "The only good thing that came from that disastrous excuse for a mission is that it helped to prove my point: at this point in time, all you two are is a liability. Savage almost killed both of you, and where would that have left us? Get used to staring at these walls, because they are all you'll be seeing for quite some time."
Kendra winced. "I won't argue that I need more training, but we'll all need to work together to take down Savage."
"You're right," Hermione agreed. "You do need more training. A lot more training. As for Carter," she shifted to face him and ordered, "You need to rest. I may have healed your wounds, but I used both my energy and yours to do it. In simple terms, my magic directed your body to what needed to be healed and helped your cells regenerate quickly, but it was still your body doing the healing. Now you're basically recovering from weeks of healing being compressed into a handful of hours. Just because your blood is now on the right side of your skin doesn't mean that you're ready to jump back into the fray. You were very lucky, Carter; don't waste all my effort by pushing yourself before your body is fully healed."
"There aren't going to be any side effects, right?" Kendra asked, stepping closer to Carter and resting a hand on his arm. "He'll be back to normal soon?"
"He will," she reassured her. "So long as he doesn't injure himself again in the next twelve hours."
"Think I can manage that," Carter told her dryly.
"What about Life Debts?" Rip asked.
Hermione turned to face him, eyes wide with surprise.
Leonard's brow quirked up at the open display of emotions. "Is a Life Debt what it sounds like?"
"It's something that can only happen between magical people," Hermione answered, not looking away from Rip. "Carter's not magical- it's irrelevant."
"You said that he had traces of magic in him because of his ability to reincarnate," Rip argued. "I just wanted to be sure-"
"Do not talk to me about things that you don't understand," she snapped. "Carter and Kendra have traces of magic in them because there is a curse on them. Having magic and being under its influence are two wildly different things. And even if one had been formed, then you would have heard me telling Carter about it when Kendra asked me not one minute ago about side effects."
"I had to be sure," he repeated. "I didn't mean any offense."
She snorted. "Are you saying that because you didn't understand what you were asking me, or because you think so lowly of me that I'd allow someone to walk away not knowing about the axe hanging above their head?"
"That sounds ominous," Sara muttered.
"Because it is," Hermione hissed. "Life Debts are serious magic- dangerous magic. They only happen when one witch or wizard saves the life of another. Magic takes such a thing very seriously and it will force you to repay that debt should you be unfortunate enough to accrue it. Which is fine if you happen to be saved by a friend, but can have tragic consequences if you're saved by an enemy."
And, contrary to popular belief, Life Debts did not necessarily cancel each other out. It all depended on the amount of debt that had been incurred.
"Do you owe anyone a Life Debt?" Jax asked, unable to help his curiosity.
Hermione gritted her teeth, and she could feel Leonard's eyes boring into the side of her head. "I did. Once. And it was hellish trying to rid myself of it."
"My apologies," Rip told her, holding his hands up placatingly.
The look Hermione gave him in return spoke volumes for how little she cared for his remorse.
"So, where do we go from here?" Sara asked.
"The mission hasn't changed," Rip told them. "It's simple: we stop Vandal Savage here in the past and we save the future."
"Simple don't mean easy, Captain," Leonard retorted.
"Oh, I never said it was. The benefit of being a Time Master is that the length and breadth of history gives one… perspective. I've seen darker days. I've seen men of steel die and dark knights fall, and even then, I accomplished my mission no matter what."
"You know when Batman dies?" Hermione interrupted. "Can I get a date on that? I've placed some very expensive bets, and I need to know whether or not I'm good or if I need to intervene."
"You've betted on when Batman dies?" Sara asked, amused.
"You haven't?"
Rip ignored them. "Gideon, what is our status?"
"When the Waverider was attacked by Chronos, the Jumpship was damaged," the AI informed them. "Unless you make repairs, we will be unable to-"
"Wait, Jumpship?" Jax interjected.
"It's a small expeditionary vessel at the belly of the Waverider," Rip explained, glancing over at the younger man. "You're a mechanic! You have a look at it."
"Uh, auto mechanic," he retorted, then made a sweeping arm movement. "This is a spaceship." When Rip just stared at him, he sighed. "Okay, if you've got a set of wrenches, I'll see what I can do."
"What about the rest of us?" Mick asked. "Do we just sit?"
"Capital idea, Mr. Rory," Rip responded, heading towards his office. "You're not nearly as thick as most people say."
"Thick," Mick repeated. "Does that mean stupid?"
"If we're done here, I'll be heading back to bed," Hermione announced, levering herself back up onto her feet. "Remember, no one have an emergency in the next few hours. If you do, you're on your own."
Leonard also stood. "Allow me to walk you back."
There had to be a polite way of telling him no. However, Hermione was too exhausted to think of one, which meant her only option was to be cruel and that also really wasn't an option because this Leonard hadn't done anything to earn her ire.
"I'll do it," Carter interjected, appearing at Hermione side. "There's a few things we need to discuss."
"Like what?" Mick asked, slouching down in his seat.
Carter took Hermione by the elbow and began to gently guide her out the door. "I have a question about our reincarnations."
"If I tell you now that I have no answers," Hermione started, "can I go?"
"Anything we need to be concerned about?" Martin questioned, glancing between the blank look on Carter's face and the concern on Kendra's.
"No," Carter answered shortly.
Hermione glanced back over her shoulder and saw that Leonard was glowering at Carter. When he caught her eye, his expression smoothed out and his raised a brow in question. Okay?
She nodded slightly before facing forward and pulling her arm out of Carter's hand. "What this about?" she murmured.
Waiting until they were fully out of earshot of their no-doubt hovering team, Carter muttered, "They said you called Savage 'Hath-Set'."
Her stomach dropped. "What about it?"
His tone remained even, but Hermione could feel how tense he was beside her. "That's not a name you should know, because neither Kendra nor I told you it."
"Perhaps Rip told me," she offered, voice faintly amused.
"Not a name he would know either."
Hermione sighed, realizing that there was no way around it. "Not here. I'll explain when we get to my room."
Carter nodded, and they spent the rest of the walk in silence.
As soon as the door was closed, he demanded, "Explain."
"It seems that we were not the only ones present in the house," Hermione stated, hopping up onto her bed.
He frowned, and Hermione watched him try to puzzle out what she meant in his head. "Magical people?" he finally asked.
"No, but that's a whole other concern," she muttered. "While I was upstairs in the library with Leonard, he and the others were apparently downstairs with me. There were two Leonard's and Hermione's in the house. And based on what Leonard said to me, and what they said happened downstairs with the other Hermione, I'm almost positive that it was the future versions of each of us."
Inhaling sharply, Carter demanded, "You said visiting the same place twice could cause time to fold in on itself!"
"Yes," she nodded. "Because it would. Or, at least, it should have. And yet, for some reason, it didn't."
After a moment, he slowly offered, "They would have to know that. So, why risk it? What's the point?"
"I don't know. But it must have been incredibly important for them to take such a huge risk. Although…" Hermione trailed off.
"What?" Carter prodded.
Hermione bit her lip, debating whether or not to say anything. "Rip has been telling us from the start that we can change time, that it's not cyclical. But what if he's wrong? What if the reason they- we- took that risk of visiting the same place twice, is because we knew that nothing would happen?"
"Because they had been there before," he finished, face grim.
"We would have had to have used the Waverider, which means that Rip would have to agree to it," Hermione pointed out. "So, I believe that either there's something in that house that we're going to need, or we did it to prove a point."
"Which is?"
"What if… what if there's an outside force that kept time from folding in on itself? Something that's keeping the time stream… locked, for lack of a better word. If that is the case, if there's something out there able to interact with time like that, then it might also be keeping the time stream from being changed."
Carter's hand lifted to rub at his temple. "But we've already changed time," he argued.
"Have we?" she responded, crossing her legs and resting her elbow on her knee and pressing her chin into her hand. "Yes, Aldus didn't die in his office, but he's still dead. Savage set up an auction for a nuclear bomb that our history tells us never went off, even though we supposedly hadn't intervened. Why buy a weapon you're not going to use?"
"So, what do we do?" Carter sighed. "Do we say something?"
"No!" Hermione exclaimed. "Not without evidence. Think about it- if there is a force at work that's able to keep time stable, who do you think has it?"
It took a minute for things to click. "Fuck. Would Rip know if the Time Masters had something like that?"
"A powerful object like that would be kept hidden and only known to a select few in case of situations like this. Rip wouldn't know, and he's not going to believe us without evidence. All we have are conjectures at this point."
"And even though he's betrayed them, Rip still has faith in them," Carter sighed. "If you're right, he's not going to take it well."
"Which is why we're not saying anything," Hermione warned. "You and I are the only ones who know about this, and it's going to stay that way for now. We can't let the others start worrying about whether or not this mission is pointless. Savage needs to be stopped. And if the Time Masters are working to prevent us from doing just that, then we'll just have to stop them too."
Carter leaned back against the wall beside the door, studying Hermione closely. "Ray said you were able to hold your own against Savage in hand-to-hand combat. How experienced are you?"
Hermione pursed her lips. "I was once a soldier. My team got captured by our enemy and our wands were taken from us. Most wizards and witches have no experience with any sort of fighting that doesn't involve magic. I realized after that experience that being able to actually physically fight would mean that I would never be helpless again. I've been studying ever since. I've dabbled in a variety of different forms, but I'm an expert in Krav Maga, Eskrima, and Ninjutsu."
His eyes widened in surprise. "That's impressive. And an unusual combination."
"Those styles have an emphasis on doing whatever it takes to make it out alive, regardless of what you have to do to your opponent in order to get there. There may be an honor in fighting fair, but what good is a dead man's honor?" It certainly hadn't done the Order any good, had it?
"Can't argue with you there."
"The fact that I used the name 'Hath-Set' at the house indicates that I know at least a bit of Savage's origins. Would you be willing to tell me more about your first life and your interactions with him at a later date?" Hermione asked.
He tilted his head slightly to the side as he continued studying her. "Will you tell me more about the Wizarding World in exchange? If Savage is having dealings with them, then I'll need to be prepared for what we might encounter."
A niggling concern that had previously danced just out reach when speaking with the others finally hit her. "There were no wards," Hermione breathed, eyes wide with shock. Meeting Carter's gaze again, she elaborated, "There were no wards on Savage's house, but I found evidence that he's having dealings with magical people in addition to the fact that he's being allowed to travel magically. So, if he's in contact, why didn't he get wards placed on the house?"
Carter's brows furrowed. "Are you sure there aren't any wards?"
She glared at him. "Wards are what I do. If there had been any, I would have found them. Although…"
"Rip said you could have burned down the entire city," Carter interrupted. "Not that you did. So, if you didn't cast the countercurse and there were no wards keeping the fire inside the property, why didn't it spread?"
Since he had been able to keep up with the conversation so far, Hermione knew that Carter wasn't an idiot. Still, his ability to infer was a surprise. "Perhaps future-me cast the wards herself on her way out," she offered. "You need very specific wards to keep Fiendfyre contained and the average magical home wouldn't have it."
"Then, could she have also gotten there before you guys did and taken down any wards that Savage may had up?"
Hermione hadn't considered that. "I suppose. Though, that would be oddly accommodating of me."
That comment caused the corners of Carter's mouth to twitch upwards. "It surprises you that you'd make things easier on yourself?"
"Yes," she admitted. "There's no one I'm more hard on than myself."
"You think you'd put your younger self in harm's way just to teach her a lesson?"
"If it was one I needed to learn, then yes." But maybe she wouldn't risk Leonard.
She sighed, almost slumping over. This was a lot to process.
"I'll let you get some rest now," Carter told her, straightening up. "We can talk more later."
"Sounds good."
Carter started for the door, but hesitated. "You saved my life," he told her softly, staring straight ahead. "I won't forget that."
Hermione shrugged. "In the interest of total honesty, I just wanted to stop Savage from winning. So, either I was going to save your life, or I was going to use a spell to steal your life essence so that Savage couldn't take it. I was able to save your life and I'm glad for that, but don't ever forget what I would have done if I hadn't been able to. I'm not a saint, Carter. And I'm certainly not a savior."
"I would have preferred you steal it than for Savage to have gotten his hands on it again," he admitted, before disappearing out into the hallway.
She thought that was a rather bold statement. After all, how could he be sure that she wouldn't have done something far worse with the power his life would have provided her? Even Hermione didn't have that much faith in herself.