Blood in the Water

Leonard stood in a small corner of the Bolshoi Theater, shoulders hunching as a brisk wind rushed through him.

He still couldn't believe that he got stuck helping the Shrinking Menace. Rip should have sent Stein to do this, give Jax a break from the old nag.

A dark-haired woman wearing a sleeveless, floor-length red gown came striding out of the theater.

"I got eyes on Vostok," he announced, watching the woman glance around at the crowd as she pulled out a small cigarette holder. Vostok strode directly past Leonard on her way to where a group of smokers were standing. "She's headed straight for you, lover boy."

"All right, gentlemen," Rip announced over the comms. "Everything's looking good from my end. Proceed."

As Vostok came up behind him, Ray turned around and greeted her with a friendly smile. "Miss Vostok," he greeted. "Simon Huntsberger, University of Moscow physics department." Ray pulled out a lighter and held it out towards her.

Instead of lighting her cigarette, Vostok blew out the flame and shifted away. "I'm not interested in talking to student," she told him flatly. "If you want lecture, come by office hours."

"I'm actually a fellow scientist," Ray hastily told her. "I read your paper on applied physics and nuclear fusion. Perhaps, if you allow me to take you to dinner, we can discuss in detail."

Without another word, Vostok turned on her heel and walked away.

Leonard peeled himself away from the wall and walked over to Ray, smirking at the shocked expression on his face. "Damn. That was cold, even by Russian standards."

Ray's expression shifted into a frown. "I've got this," he snapped. "Go find somewhere else to stand; I don't want her to see us talking."

"Take it easy, Raymond," Leonard warned him, stepping away. "She clearly doesn't want to talk about work. Maybe I should take a crack at her."

Ignoring his advice, Ray walked up to Vostok again. "I think we may have gotten off on the wrong foot. I don't mean to bother you-"

"Too late," Vostok snapped.

"But," Raymond soldiered on, "as an investor, I'm in a position to fund your research. That is why I wanted us to meet."

"Easy, Raymond," Leonard muttered. "You're gonna spook her."

Again, Leonard was ignored. "I think it's important to know who's funding your research, don't you think?" Ray asked. "For instance, Project Svarog."

Volstok's eyes widened in surprise before her expression settled into something slightly more calculating and Leonard was moving in an instant, walking over to the two scientists. "Sorry," he interrupted, coming up behind Vostok. "Is this man bothering you?"

Resting a hand on her back, Leonard gently guided her away from Ray. "Don't trouble yourself," she told him. "I'm not a damsel in distress."

Bringing them to a stop, Leonard moved to stand in front of the woman, meeting her gaze with a smirk. "Good, because I'm not a white knight."

The bell rang, informing the attendees that it was time to return to the theater.

"Seems intermission is over," Vostok told him.

"You wouldn't want to miss Queen Nisia dancing naked with the nymphs," he commented.

A slow smile played across her lips and Leonard knew that he had her. "My favorite part of the ballet," she told him. After studying him for a moment, she continued, "But I've seen it so many times. Perhaps, you wouldn't mind walking me home instead."

Leonard offered her his arm with a smile, suddenly glad that Hermione had refused to join them. Staying in character with Volstok on the walk home was going to be more challenging than it needed to be if he constantly had to wonder how closely Hermione was tailing them.

Hopefully she wasn't listening on the comm back on the ship.

"Hey," Carter greeted Hermione, leaning against the wall outside her room.

"Hello," she returned, slinging her bag over her shoulder. "What are you doing out here?"

He shrugged, straightening up. "Kendra's training with Sara right now and Rip and Rory have disappeared somewhere. Figured now would be as good a time as any for us to talk."

Hermione bit her lip. On the one hand, she really did want to speak with Carter and learn more about Savage and their history. But on the other, this was her chance to get revenge against Dolohov.

She could delay leaving for a bit and take some more time to review the wards she was likely to encounter at Dolohov's house. It was probably the better option, considering how extensive she knew the Cursebreaker's wards were going to be.

"Alright," Hermione finally answered. "Did you have someplace in mind, or did you want to talk in my room?"

"Figured we'd just go to the main cabin. I want to hear what Snart and Palmer were able to find out from Vostok when they get back."

Pausing for a moment so that Hermione could put her bag back in her room, the duo began making their way down the hallway. As they walked, she asked, "Was it Rip or Raymond who informed you of that idiotic plan?"

"Actually, it was Snart. I ran into him when he was hiding out in one of the storage rooms reading up on some ballet. Guess Palmer and Stein were getting on his nerves."

"How unusual for them," Hermione responded dryly. "Those three usually get along so well."

They entered the cabin and Carter waited for Hermione to sit down before taking the seat next to hers.

"So," she started, pulling up her legs so she could curl up on the chair. "What do you want to know?"

Carter was quiet for a moment. "Palmer mentioned Savage saying something about a man like him- someone following in his footsteps. It sounds like you know who he's talking about."

Hermione sighed. Of course that was the bit Carter focused on. "A wizard by the name of Tom Riddle started a war similar to Grindelwald's in Wizarding Britain during the 70s. Like Grindelwald, he thought non-magical humans were trash and that wizards should be reigning supreme. He found support in many of the Pureblood population of Britain, though he would accept anyone into his ranks as long as he deemed them powerful and clever enough.

"Riddle was thought to be defeated in 1981, but all that happened is that his body had been destroyed. He'd used Dark Magic to ensure that he would never truly die and in 1995, he was able to regain his body and restarted the war. After destroying all the magic that would keep him from dying, his opposers managed to defeat him for good in 1998.

"I'm not sure how or when, but it seems that Savage and Riddle met one another during the first war. I'd thought that perhaps Savage had just heard of Riddle's antics from whichever wizards he was working with in America or Russia, but I have evidence that he's been corresponding directly with one of Riddle's followers. It seems that Savage offered him some advice for how best to go about causing chaos and death in Britain."

Fingers tightening on the arms of his chair, Carter muttered, "Yeah, that sounds like Savage." Eyes flicking away from where he'd been blankly staring, the demigod closely studied the witch. "You were in the war, weren't you? You were fighting."

She nodded silently.

Taking the hint, he continued, "How did Savage know that you'd met Riddle?"

"I'm not sure he did. I believe he was just assuming that I'd at least heard of Riddle. After all, I'm British and the wizarding community is small. That's a reasonable assumption to make."

"But what if-"

"Carter," Hermione interrupted, locking eyes with him. "Don't go looking for trouble that you don't know is there. We have enough to worry about without adding in hypotheticals."

As they started walking down the street, Leonard offered his coat to Vostok. "Allow me," he told her with a charming smile, slipping it over her shoulders.

"Thank you," she responded demurely, shifting to grasp the edges of the coat and pulling it tightly around her. "Are you sure you won't be too cold without it?"

"What kind of gentleman would I be if I let a woman as lovely as you go cold?" he asked lightly. "I would ask if you'd like to return to the theater for your things, but I assume you'd rather not risk running into your unwelcome admirer."

Leonard hoped the Ray was listening in. He clearly needed some pointers on how to woo a lady.

"You assume correctly. It's no matter- I can go back tomorrow and pick up my coat. Though, I doubt his interest in me was solely based on my looks."

Turning to look at her with a raised brow, Leonard asked, "And you think mine is?"

Vostok met his gaze with sultry smile. "I think attraction plays an important role in bringing two people together, don't you?"

His lips quirked upwards. Yes, attraction certainly does play a role in gaining his attention, but it wasn't the most important one. Leonard wasn't ashamed to admit that it was Hermione's looks that first caught his attention, but it was her cleverness that reeled him in. He'd met many intelligent people over the years, and he wasn't lacking in that department himself, but Hermione set herself apart by combining that intelligence with a ruthless and pragmatic way of thinking. It was similar enough to his own that he could appreciate it, while different enough that it appealed to him.

"I personally find intellect to be just as important as looks," Leonard responded lightly. "Nothing worse than spending time with someone unable to hold up their end of a conversation."

"And here I thought most men preferred their women to be beautiful and silent," Vostok teased, leaning in closer.

Hermione Granger was beautiful. She was also dangerous, warm, and dedicated. Once she made a decision, nothing and no one would be able to sway her from her decision. Leonard was going to do whatever it took to get her to decide on him.

Valentina Vostok was an attractive woman, but Leonard knew that she was as cold as he was and there was nothing appealing to him about that. However, it also meant that he knew how she thought.

She won't tell you anything. Try thinking with the head on your shoulders and not the one in your pants.

Hermione was right, Vostok wasn't going to tell them anything. Which meant that if they wanted to know more about Project Svarog, they were going to have to find a way to break in. In order to do that, he was going to have to get her to let her guard down.

"I'm Peter, by the way. I probably should have introduced myself before I whisked you away."

Vostok laughed. "But where would be the mystery in that? I'm Valentina."

It wasn't his favorite plan, but Leonard knew what he had to do.

"You were the son of Ramessess II?" Hermione asked, reluctantly impressed.

Carter smirked. "Yep. Prince Khufu, son of Ramessess the Wise."

She grinned. "Too bad you didn't inherit any of that wisdom. Could have come in handy."

He laughed, and Hermione could see how he'd drawn Chay-Ara's eye. Speaking of which… "Was Chay-Ara a High Priestess of Horus the Elder or Horus the Younger?"

Seemingly caught off-guard, Carter admitted, "I can't remember. Four thousand years is a long time. I may remember more than Kendra does about our past lives, but that's not saying much. I didn't even remember the dagger until she reminded me of it."

Before Hermione could respond, Mick came storming into the room.

"What's wrong?" Hermione asked, instantly on-edge at the fiery look in his eyes.

"What's wrong is our captain is being an idiot," he snapped.

Rip came striding into the room then. "Yes, Mr. Rory, you have made your opinion very clear," he sneered. "However, this is not your decision."

"You're right," Mick agreed. "It's not my decision- it involves the entire team. Which means it's our decision."

Stein and Jax entered the room. "What's going on?" Jax asked.

"We could hear you shouting from down the hall," Stein added.

"What happened is an old buddy of Rip's showed up," Mick answered before Rip could. "A Time Master. He wants us all to turn ourselves in and Rip is considering it."

Hermione's gaze snapped to Rip's. "We haven't apprehended Savage yet," she pointed out. "And the Time Masters have made it perfectly clear that they have no intentions in stopping him themselves. Why would you even consider ending this mission when it's just begun?"

Sighing, Rip ran a hand through his hair. "This mission has turned out far more dangerous than I led you all to believe it to be when I first recruited you."

Glancing around at the other men, Hermione responded, "I can't speak for the others, but I knew exactly what I was getting into when I joined you. I knew how dangerous this was going to be and I still came aboard this ship because I believed it to be the right thing to do. You're not the only one who's lost someone because of Savage, Hunter. This isn't just your fight anymore."

"You and Carter almost died!" Rip argued, turning away from them to walk into his office.

"Yes, and that was our choice," Carter told him, following him into the room. "We went into this knowing the risks. We're willing to die if that's what it takes to stop Savage. Don't disrespect our choices just because you're scared."

"What even is the plan here?" Jax interjected. "You hand over the ship and turn yourself in to the Time Masters, and the rest of us just-"

"Will be returned to your former lives in January 2016," Rip finished, pouring himself a drink from the cart by the door and heading over to his desk. "It will be as if you never left."

"Aside from the fact that Starling City might be part of the U.S.S.R., thanks to our efforts," Stein reminded him.

Hermione groaned. "Would you stop with that nonsense?! I told you, Savage was always going to join the U.S.S.R. Our presence didn't cause that to happen and, as long as we don't inadvertently hand over anything to the U.S.S.R. or Savage, then nothing about the Cold War is going to change. What I don't understand is why you're taking this at face-value, Rip. Why would the Time Masters go from sending Chronos to kill us to offering you a way out in good faith? That makes no sense."

"Because it's a trap!" Mick growled. "He wants Rip to bring the whole team to him so that they don't have to keep searching through time to find us."

"I agree that it's a trap," Hermione told them, "but I don't understand why they'd want Rip to bring us to him. Surely the Time Masters have more enforcers than just Chronos, right? Why not just bring them all here and attack us now?"

"Could they not know where the ship is?" Jax asked.

"We didn't exactly have a smooth landing," Stein pointed out. "Even if they don't have some sort of tracker on the ship itself, it wouldn't be too difficult to find where the ship landed based on where we went down and how fast we were going."

"Is it just me, or it does feel like they aren't actually trying to stop us?" Carter questioned, glancing at Hermione from the corner of his eye. "Say Rip did bring the entire team to the meeting point and Chronos and Rip's old mentor attack us. There's still only two of them and ten of us, most of whom are trained fighters. We could probably take them down pretty easy. So, what's the real point of all of this?"

"Chronos is dead," Rip told them, fingers tightening on the edge of his desk. "Time Master Dru said that he was killed by the Soviets."

"If crash landing our ship didn't do any real damage, do you really think that the Russians could have taken out Chronos' ship?" Jax asked. "The dude's gotta be lying."

Hermione folded her arms across her chest and turned her head to gaze out the window with narrowed eyes. Carter was right- the Time Masters weren't really trying to stop them. It was likely that this charade was just an attempt to make it look like they were trying to keep the team from accomplishing their mission. But why? Why bother? Would Rip have been bothered if no one came after him? Would he have noticed and become suspicious? Perhaps, but Hermione thought it was more likely that, if no one had come after them, Rip would just have assumed that the Time Masters weren't concerned with him because they didn't believe he could- or would- do any real damage.

She was operating under the belief that the Time Masters had found a way to keep time locked and looped, which was preventing them from making any real changes to the timeline. If that were the case, then it also meant that they were always supposed to go to the past and meet Savage. So, if the Time Masters wanted them to continue traveling in the past, then the only possible reason they would make a show of trying to stop them at this moment was because of whatever outcome would occur because of said meeting.

"They're herding us," Carter hissed in Ancient Egyptian, coming to the same conclusion as Hermione.

"What'd you say?" Jax asked, confused. "That wasn't English, man."

"He said that they're playing us," Hermione smoothly answered, looking over at Rip and praying that he hadn't understood. Based on the look on his face, she was rather sure he hadn't. "They can't take the entire team with just the two of them, but it seems like they're hoping that we'll either go willingly or, if we refuse, then at least a few of us will accompany Rip when he goes to give his answer and they'll be able to attack them. If we see members of our team die, then we might be more willing to give up this mission."

"No." Rip shook his head. "The Time Masters wouldn't do that. That's not how the organization works."

"Maybe it is, and you just never noticed," Mick spat.

"So, what do we do now?" Stein asked. "If none of us are willing to turn ourselves in and give up the mission, then what are we going to do about the Time Masters?"

Rip stared down at the drink in his head. "The only thing we can do- give them our answer."

"You shouldn't go alone," Hermione told him.

"I won't," he reassured her. "If Mr. Rory, Dr. Stein, and Mr. Jackson are willing, I'd appreciate their company."

"Not me or Hermione?" Carter asked, eyes narrowed.

Shaking his head, Rip answered, "It'd be better if the two of you stayed on board. Can't risk the Time Masters getting their hands on you."

Hermione frowned. "I understand not wanting to risk Carter because you need him to kill Savage, but why me? Why would the Time Masters care about me beyond the fact that I'm a member of your team?"

"That's… not important right now," Rip responded evasively. "Dangers of knowing your own future and all that."

"That's not suspicious at all," Mick snorted.

"I only have one question," Hermione stated flatly. "Is it because of my magic or because of my dabbles with Time?"

"Both."

She sighed. "That's unfortunate."

A light drizzle began to fall from the sky and Vostok handed Leonard the umbrella he'd placed inside his coat. He opened it and pulled her closer to his side under the guise of making sure she was fully shielded.

"Are you sure you don't want your coat back?" she asked him again. "I can't believe you're not freezing."

Leonard had to bite back a smirk. "Oh, I love the cold."

"And the ballet," she added thoughtfully.

"What is it about the ballet that you love, Valentina?" He made sure to drawl out her name softly, intimately.

Her hand tightened on his arm. "The combination of grace and strength, pushing the body to its breaking point. It's a thing of beauty."

Pushing the body to its breaking point sounded right up Savage's alley. Leonard wondered if this woman's partnership with Savage was truly just work-related. A beautiful woman who liked to see just how much a person could take before they broke seemed like something the immortal wouldn't mind getting closer to.

After walking a few more steps, Vostok brought them to a stop. "My apartment," she announced, pulling away. Standing in front of him, she cocked her head slightly to the side and looked at him with hooded eyes. "You know, this time of night, it's colder than a Siberian winter."

"It sounds perfect," he purred.

"I'm sure we could heat it up," she invited.

Almost there… "Sadly, I have business elsewhere this evening," he sighed.

"Well," Vostok shrugged off his coat, tilting her head back to highlight the arch of her neck as she did so, and handed it back to him. "If this is goodbye…"

She leaned in and pressed her lips against his. Leonard returned the kiss and moved one hand to tightly grip her hip. After a few moments, Vostok pulled back, taking the umbrella with her. With one last inviting smile, she turned away and walked to her apartment.

Once she had gone inside, Leonard loudly asked, "You enjoy the show, Raymond?"

"I think I've got frostbite in some not-so-fun places from waiting out here," he responded, stepping out from behind a statue. "Did she tell you what kind of weapon Savage is building?"

Leonard turned around and shrugged, knowing how much it was going to annoy the other man. "Didn't come up. Such a romantic evening- I didn't want to spoil the mood."

Raymond scowled. "And here I thought you actually liked Hermione. Hope she's aware of how good of a liar you are."

He almost laughed. It was as if Raymond had forgotten that Hermione was in the same business as him. If she hadn't done the same before when working over a mark, Leonard would be genuinely surprised.

"So," Raymond continued when it was clear Leonard wasn't going to respond. "Other than a steamy good night kiss and a possible case of hypothermia, we've got nothing."

"I wouldn't say that." Leonard pulled his hand out from the folds of his coat and held up a badge. "It's Vostok's security badge for a place called Luskavic Labs. Whatever weapon she's building for Savage, we'll find it there."

The other man looked reluctantly impressed. "I guess I should just be happy you didn't swipe her wallet," he sighed.

With a smirk, Leonard showed him his other hand and the shiny red wallet trapped between his fingers.

Hermione sat alone in Rip's office, thumbing through one of his many books while waiting for the others to get back. Carter had gone off to help Kendra- apparently Kendra's inner hawk had come out while she and Sara were sparring, prompting Sara to have an episode of Lazarus Pit induced rage. Hermione had tried to check on Sara while Carter looked after Kendra, but she had refused to see her.

She couldn't blame the blond for wanting to be alone- Hermione was the same way the first few times she'd fallen into rage after she'd come back. Her parents hadn't known what to do with her and had just let her be and, when she'd first arrived at the Burrow, Ron and Ginny were too afraid of becoming the focus of her anger to even try and help. It wasn't until Fred and George heard what was going on that Hermione had had any support.

The sound of the doors in the main room sliding open caught her attention and Hermione glanced up through the glass windows to see Ray and Leonard walking in.

Standing up and setting her book aside, Hermione walked out of the room and over to Leonard's side. "Welcome back."

"Good to be back," he told her. Slipping his hand out of his jacket pocket, Leonard held out a ruby bracelet with a smirk. "Brought you back a gift."

"Really?" Hermione said dryly, taking the piece of jewelry from him. "How thoughtful."

"Did you steal that from Vostok?" Ray demanded, walking over to them. "What, her wallet wasn't enough?"

"I thought having something that belonged to Vostok might be useful if we need to track her down again," Leonard told him, rolling his eyes. "That bracelet is clearly an antique, which means that it's likely a family piece that she's had for a while. Figured Hermione might be able to get something off of it using her magic."

"And here I was worried that you just thought it was acceptable to regift another woman's jewelry," she teased, running her fingers over the shining jewels.

Leonard huffed. "I've got a little more class than that."

"What does the fact that it's old got to do with anything?" Ray asked.

"The longer an owner has had an item, the more traces of them will be on it," he responded. In response to the way Hermione's brows rose in surprise, Leonard said, "You left one of your books out earlier."

She blinked at him, forcing herself to tamp down any visible signs of surprise. Hermione was shocked to realize that she hadn't even questioned why Leonard would try to give her something of Vostok's that was older; she'd responded to his statement as she would one of her peers in the magical world- no surprise they knew because of course they would know some of the most basic and logical rules when using magic on objects in order to investigate their owners.

Even though Leonard wasn't magical, the intelligence he'd shown had elevated him in Hermione's mind to the same level that someone like George was.

Ray scoffed, and she turned to see him rolling his eyes. "Aren't you going to tell her how you were able to steal Vostok's wallet and bracelet without her noticing?"

Hermione glanced from Ray's outraged expression to Leonard's vaguely amused one.

When Leonard stayed silent, Ray told her, "He flirted with her, walked her home, and gave her memorable farewell kiss."

Ah. That explains it.

He was clearly hoping to get a negative reaction out of her in order to- hopefully- upset Leonard. It seemed that the team had noticed that there was something developing between her and Leonard. Hermione almost asked Ray why he thought she would care who Leonard decided to swap spit with but couldn't bring herself to. It would feel too much like she was dismissing both Leonard and her own feelings and outright denying that she cared at all about him, something he didn't deserve.

Instead, she glanced over at Leonard and asked, "Was there tongue?"

The way his blue eyes glittered with amusement and the corners of his lips ticked up told her that she made the right call. "Nope."

"Then it's fine."

Just as Ray began to splutter in outrage, the doors slid open again and Rip came striding in.

He seemed to be in a hurry but paused at the sight of the two men. "Oh, gentlemen. I trust everything went according to plan at the Bolshoi?"

"Piece of cake," Ray told him, forcing a smile onto his face. "Made contact with Vostok and swiped her badge."

Leonard rolled his eyes. "Thanks to me. Pretty boy just froze his ass off."

Hermione watched as the look on his face quickly shifted from annoyance to concern, the changes so minute that one might have missed it if they weren't looking and if they didn't know Leonard all that well. Turning to see what caught his attention, she saw Stein and Mick almost carrying Jax, who had one hand clutched to bloody wound in his abdomen, into the room.

"What happened to him?" Ray asked.

"Chronos," Mick grunted, watching carefully as Jax pulled away from him and Stein and took a few wobbly steps on his own. "Jax here was-"

"Almost got himself killed," Stein interrupted, glowering at his partner, who turned back to give him a dirty look.

"And we need to get you to the Medbay," Rip told Jax, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Gideon," he called. "Once we're all settled, take us one week into the future."

"Yes, Captain," the AI responded.

"Ah, the Medbay," Mick sighed. "Where a morphine drip awaits me."

Hermione bit back a grin at Mick's unhelpful yet also entertaining commentary. She and Leonard moved forward to follow him to the Medbay. Gideon should be able to heal Jax's wounds, but Hermione knew it couldn't hurt to have a magical intervention on hand if necessary. Plus, she wanted Mick to tell them exactly what had happened.

"Now, just try to take it slowly," Rip murmured to Jax.

"Don't bother telling him what to do," Stein sneered. "He'll just do the opposite."

The group froze and Hermione turned to stare at Stein in shock. His partner was suffering from a rather severe-looking wound to his abdomen, and he decided that now was the time to lay into him?

Jax also turned to stare at the older man, pulling Rip around with him. "Oh, yeah, it would be my fault that I got hurt, because I didn't listen to you in your infinite wisdom. I am sorry, Professor," he hissed, pulling fully away from Rip and taking a step forward.

"Exactly," Stein agreed. "It seems this… partnership of ours has become untenable."

"Partnership?" Jax repeated, pressing his hand tightly against his wound. "No, this is a dictatorship, one in which you get to call all the shots and I get to take all the shots."

"Do you think I like seeing you hurt?"

"Don't act like you actually care about me, man," Jax spat. "I'm just a life-support system. I didn't even want to come on this stupid trip. You kidnapped me."

Stein started to turn away. "Oh, this old tune."

Jax's response stopped him in his tracks. "Did you ever stop to think that I actually had a life back in 2016?"

"I almost forgot: a promising career as an auto mechanic."

Hermione unconsciously stepped away from Leonard, narrowing her eyes at Stein.

"I had a mom!" Jax shouted. "A widow. What happens to her if something happens to me in 1986? Huh? She's just gonna think that I left her without even saying good-bye. Man, do you have any idea what that does to her?"

"We've all made sacrifices!" Stein shouted back. "But can't you see that this mission- stopping Savage- is bigger than any one of us?"

"I am so sick of you using that tone," Jax told him, shaking. "When are you gonna learn that you are not my father?"

Stein froze. "I'm sorry you lost him at such a tender age," he finally told him. "But if your father were here right now, he'd be saying what I'm saying- just grow up, Jefferson. The future of the world is at stake and, if you insist on getting yourself killed, as terrible as that might be for your mother- or me, who, incidentally, would also die- I am more concerned with the billions of people who will die because of your arrogant adolescent ego!"

Hermione snapped. "Fuck you," she spat, suddenly finding herself standing in-between Jax and Stein. "How dare you stand there and dress him down as though you have any right at all after what you've done."

Startled, Stein took a small step back before sighing, as though her outburst was nothing more than a minor annoyance. "Miss Granger," he started.

"No. I get to talk now, and you're going to listen. You do not get to dismiss his anger and concerns as little more than some sort of temper tantrum. You're angry because he doesn't do what you say? Well, Stein, I would have thought it would be obvious why he's so hesitant to follow your lead.

"You want to know why he doesn't want to listen to you? You want to know why he doesn't trust you? Are you really so blind to what you've done?

"If you're unable to understand the severity of your actions after hearing Jax's thoughts on the subject, then let me put it another way. You, a teacher, invited a young male into your office to have a 'discussion'. You asked him to do something that you knew he wasn't willing to do. So, when he inevitably said no, you drugged his drink and forced him to do what you wanted. And when he woke up angry and confused, you told him that you did it for his own good and that one day, he'd thank you for it."

Stein flinched and looked away, but Hermione wasn't done.

"You belittle him, and manipulate him, and then have the gall to be upset when he's finally had enough," she continued. "You can be 'concerned' about the future of the world all you want, but you do not get to dictate his feelings about the situation, and you do not get to be angry at him for not forgiving you for breaking his trust. You are not the victim in this situation, Stein. You're the victimizer. And if you can't see that, if you're truly that ignorant, then it means that you really are a horrible person and I have no idea why Rip would trust you with the saving the world when you can't even be trusted with the life of your partner."

Hermione took a step back, ready to leave, but paused. "And for the record, if Jax's father were here right now, I think the only thing he'd be doing is beating the shit out of you for using your position of authority to take advantage of his kid."

Spinning on her heel, Hermione stepped towards Jax and wrapped an arm around his waist. "C'mon," she murmured, gently guiding him out of the room. "Let's get you to the Medbay."

Jax was distantly aware of the pain radiating from his gut, but his brain felt too foggy to actually process it. He just kept replaying what happened in his head, over and over.

Hermione and Rip were on either side of him, helping support his weight down to the Medbay.

I had a mom!

He had to remind himself that he 'has' a mom, not 'had'. She was still alive. And once this was done, he would be going back. Rip could return them to right after they left, and she never had to know that he'd been gone. It would be fine.

Just grow up, Jefferson.

So, he was apparently grown up enough to risk his life playing at being a hero with Stein, but not grown up enough to actually have thoughts and opinions that were worth anything.

"Almost there," Rip reassured him, but Jax was beyond caring.

He meant every single goddamn word he'd said. What he and Stein had wasn't a partnership. Partners listened to each other. Respected each other's opinions. Didn't treat each other like shit. Didn't drug each other and drag them into something they didn't want to be a part of and act like it was fucking favor.

If Jax's father were here right now, I think the only thing he'd be doing is beating the shit out of you for using your position of authority to take advantage of his kid.

Jax glanced down at Hermione. He hadn't expected her to defend him. He hadn't expected anyone to. No one had cared when they'd learned that Stein had drugged him in order to get him on the ship. No one had stepped in the other times they'd argued. They'd just… stayed out of it. Jax hadn't expected this time to be any different.

But Hermione had been angry for him. Had ripped into Stein and told him to shove it. And Jax couldn't understand why.

When they reached the Medbay, Leonard and Mick were already there and were working with Gideon to get things ready.

"That's not necessary," Hermione told them as they came over to help Jax into a bed. "I've got this."

"You sure?" Rip asked. "Gideon can heal him up quickly enough."

Hermione nodded. "I want to. You all go on ahead."

After a few moments of hesitation, the three men left the room.

It was the first time Jax had been alone with Hermione, and he wasn't sure what to say. She didn't seem uncomfortable though, lifting his shirt up and inspecting his wound.

"I should be able to heal you up easily enough," she told him. "Do you want a pain potion before I begin?"

"I'm good," he told her.

After carefully shifting his shirt up high enough that it wasn't touching the injury, Hermione pulled out her wand and began to remove the blood and dirt surrounding the wound.

"I'm sorry," she told him abruptly.

Jax blinked up at her. "For what?"

"For not saying anything. In the beginning. It was obvious that you didn't want to be here, and that Stein had forced you to come. I should have demanded Rip return you to 2016, but I didn't. And I wish a better reason for why I didn't, other than the fact that I didn't know you and I didn't care, but I don't. All I can do is apologize and promise you that you're not on your own anymore. I've got your back."

He swallowed, closing his eyes for a moment. "Apology accepted. For the record though, I didn't blame you. Still don't. Like yeah, it would've been nice if you'd said something, but you didn't know any of us. You're literally from a whole other world. You play by different rules. And Stein did offer me the chance to go back home after Chronos attacked us the first time, but I decided to stay. So I did choose to be here in the end."

"But that doesn't negate the fact that you didn't in the beginning," Hermione responded softly.

A soft blue light shot out of the end of her wand and Jax could feel a strange tingling sensation in his gut. It wasn't painful, but it felt really weird.

"I was about fifteen years old when the Second Wizarding War started," Hermione told him abruptly, gaze focused on his wound. "The blood purists I told you about? The started a war in the 70s in Britain that they lost in the early 80s. They weren't stopped for good though; they started gaining power again a few years later. I was twelve when things first started up again. The Headmaster at the boarding school for magical teens that I was sent to- Albus Dumbledore- was the leader of the resistance and we didn't know it at the time, but he was grooming us in preparation for when the war would start again. Turning us all into his loyal little soldiers.

"My friend, Harry, had the worst of it. Dumbledore needed a sacrificial lamb, and he decided Harry would do. Harry's parents were killed in the first war and Dumbledore made sure he was sent to live with non-magical relatives who hated magic and hated him. They abused him for years, and Dumbledore knew about it but did nothing. Then, when Harry was eleven and old enough to go to our school, Dumbledore swooped in and 'saved' him. He gave Harry a home, a place to belong, the opportunity to make real friends, and helped make Harry feel like a celebrity since his parents were war heroes and he was famous because of them. A true 'rags-to-riches' sort of thing.

"Harry became Dumbledore's boy. He took the Headmaster's word as gospel. And even when he found out the truth about Dumbledore and what kind of man he really was, he still stayed loyal. He did what he was told. Dumbledore sent him off to die, and Harry didn't even hesitate for a moment. He didn't ask questions, he didn't come find us, he just left.

Hermione finally met his gaze. "I know that this probably isn't going to mean much to you considering the fact that I'm… well… no one, but I'm so proud of you for sticking up for yourself. For not being willing to let someone else walk all over you, even though they're older and more educated. I just… I know it doesn't mean much, but I am."

Jax didn't know what to say. That was a lot of information, a lot to process. And he wasn't all that sure how Hermione had connected him to her friend. It sounded like Harry had a pretty crappy life overall, but Jax's hadn't been terrible. Yeah, it had been rough at times since they didn't have a lot of money growing up, but they'd gotten by.

Maybe it wasn't the fact that he reminded her of Harry, but that Stein reminded her of Dumbledore.

"I'm sorry," he finally told her. "About your friend."

"Oh, he's still alive," she sighed. "He's got both the best and worst luck I've ever seen. And he's still stupidly loyal to Dumbledore's memory and doesn't get why I'm not. I learned the cost of having blind faith, of not asking questions, and I swore I'd never put myself in that kind of position ever again.

"To be honest, Jax, I admire you for standing up for yourself back there. For saying something. Because Merlin knows I never did."

The light disappeared from her wand and Jax glanced down, shocked to see that his wound was totally gone.

"You'll be fine in a few hours," Hermione told him, slipping her wand back up her sleeve and stepping away. "Get some rest."

"Thank you again," Jax told her. "For healing me, and for standing up for me."

Hermione smiled faintly and nodded. "This is your life, Jax. You have every right to be the one making the decisions about how you live it. And you have every right to feel hurt and betrayed because of what Stein did. And you do not have to get over it just because he tells you to. The only person who has any say in whether or not you find forgiveness, is you. Don't ever let anyone tell you otherwise."

Leonard stepped away from the door, shouldering past Rip and Mick.

She was twelve years old. She was a fucking kid.

He didn't know how to process what he'd just heard. He didn't know how to respond.

Well, he knew how he wanted to respond. He wanted to find Dumbledore- and what kind of a fucking name was that- and skin him alive.

If Leonard ever got the chance to run into Dumbledore during this mission, he was going to kill him, timeline be damned.

Leonard wasn't a hero- never pretended to be either. But he would never hurt a kid and no one he worked with would either. Everyone knew that if anyone on his crew laid a hand on a child, he'd kill them. No exceptions.

He knew that he should take a moment to calm down, to pull up that cold, calculating demeanor he was known for so that he could make decisions based on facts, not emotions. But Leonard was pissed and the only appropriate target he could take his rage out on now was Stein.

When he reached the doors leading to the control room, he heard Stein and Ray's voices.

"I had to hurt him," Stein was saying. "It's the only way I can get through to him. I've tried everything else."

"Well, he's just a kid," Ray snapped.

"So was Ronald. And look what happened to him."

Leonard heard Ray sigh. "Your former half of Firestorm."

"Yes. I can't… I can't go through this again. I can't lose another. The reason I'm constantly lecturing Jefferson is because I'm the one who brought him along and, if something happens, I'm the one who has to go back to 2016 and tell his mother that her little boy is never coming home. And I would rather die than do that."

Taking a deep breath, Leonard stepped back into the shadows.

He would never understand why people thought that you needed to rip someone apart in order to make them understand. Because from his experience, no one really uses cutting words in order to help someone. They do it to hurt them.

Hermione walked out of the Medbay and headed straight for her room. She needed to grab her bag and get the hell out of there, before she did something she regretted.

She was able to make it to her room and off the ship without any trouble but was accosted before she could apparate away.

"Hey," Carter called, jogging down the ramp of the ship. "You okay? I heard what happened with Jax."

"I'm fine," she snapped. Taking a deep breath, Hermione forced the rage she was feeling down far enough that it wouldn't be heard in her voice. "I'm fine," she repeated, relieved to hear that she sounded calmer. "I just need to go take care of something."

Carter came to a stop less than half a meter away from her. "Rip didn't mention that you were being sent out on an assignment."

Hermione gritted her teeth. "It's a personal matter."

"The kind that's going to mess up the timeline?"

"No," she sneered. "Unlike the rest of those idiots, I know how to do things without risking the future. It's really not that difficult- all it requires is for one to have a working brain and an ounce of common sense."

"Alright," he nodded. "And is this something you were planning on doing before Stein pissed you off, or did you come up with it afterwards?"

Pressing her lips tightly together, Hermione tightened her hold on her bag.

She didn't owe Carter any explanations.

Twisting on her heel, Hermione pictured the street that the Dolohov familial home resided on. Just as she was disapparating, a hand clamped down on her elbow and, before she could shake it off, the magic took hold, dragging whoever was clutching onto her along for the ride.

The spiteful part of her hoped Carter splinched himself after pulling a stunt like that. The reasonable part of her pointed out that, if he did splinch himself, she was the one who was going to have to heal him so it would be better for her if he didn't.

When the reappeared, Carter groaned and bent double. Hermione carefully looked him over and, once she was sure that all his bits had made it there, informed him, "That's what you get for trying to force your presence onto me."

After taking a few deep breaths, he slowly straightened up. "You're clearly compromised," he growled, running a hand over his face. "I'm not just going to let you run off and get yourself killed because Stein was an asshole- I owe you my life, remember? That's not something I take lightly."

Hermione flinched. "I told you that you don't owe me anything for that."

"There may not be any kind of magical debt hanging over us, but there is still a personal one. More than that though, there hasn't been many people over the last 4,000 years that have proven themselves to be all that trustworthy. You've shown that, not only can you be trusted to watch both Kendra and I's backs, but you also can hold your own with Savage. The people who can do that and are trustworthy are negligible, if not totally nonexistent."

She couldn't help sympathizing with Carter a bit. The bare bones of what she knew about their reincarnations sounded awful enough, but she hadn't really thought about how lonely it must have been for the two of them- especially if they weren't born remembering who they really were. They would have lived their lives for any number of years, making friends and connecting with family, only to remember the truth and have to cut all ties so that Savage wouldn't use their loved ones against them.

Sighing, Hermione grumbled, "Fine. But, just to be clear, this does not make us friends."

Carter grinned. "Not yet."

Rolling her eyes, she turned away from him and started walking down the street. Hermione had only visited Russia the one time before being banned, but she had made sure to come here during that time. She knew that the wards on the home were extensive, which was to be expected since she was dealing with a renowned Curse Breaker, and the exact spot they'd arrived in was the closest they could get before Dolohov's wards would be activated. If they continued the rest of the way on foot though, then they wouldn't be noticed till they were in front of the house. Even then, their presence would only send out an alert and the only living Dolohov was currently having his sanity eaten away in Azkaban. Or whatever sanity was left after all that Dark Magic and Voldemort had finished taking their pound of flesh.

Knowing that Carter wasn't going to stop bothering her until he got some sort of explanation, Hermione gave him the simple version of why they were there. "When I was sixteen, I broke into a government building belonging to the British Wizarding World called the Ministry of Magic. My friend Harry thought someone was being tortured there and insisted that we go rescue them even though I told him it was a trap. We went, we found out I was right, and then we were fighting for our lives against magical Nazi's called Death Eaters. I was cornered and attacked by a man named Antonin Dolohov."

Carter slowly nodded, glancing up at the building they had stopped at. "I'm guessing he's the owner of this house."

Hermione took a deep breath, biting down hard on her lower lip as she tried to control her temper. "I found a letter in Savage's house from Dolohov. Care to take a guess as to what it contained?"

When he said nothing, she told him, "Savage was helping him perfect the spell he would end up using on me." A wave of pain and rage and bone-deep fear washed over Hermione. "I died, Carter. That spell killed me. They may have brought me back, but it was a literal miracle that they managed to do so, and I spent the next two months drugged out of my mind while my body tried to heal. Dolohov did that to me. He killed me, and Savage helped.

"And I came back wrong, Carter. I came back broken. And I may have found a way to live with that fact, but that doesn't change that it's all their fault. They did this to me, and then they got to just walk away and it's not fair. It's not fair that they got to ruin my life and faced no consequences for doing so.

"I can't kill Dolohov myself. I can't get justice. But I can do this. These ancestral homes matter so much to Purebloods because they're a symbol of how special they are and full of all their treasures. Take these away, and- to them- they might as well be commoners."

After a long moment, Carter stated, "You're not broken."

She smiled, glancing over at him. "Why is it that being broken is seen as such a bad thing?"

"Because doesn't qualifying something as broken automatically mean that it needs to be fixed?" he asked. "That it needs to be changed?"

Cocking her head to the side, she slowly responded, "Perhaps to some. But in my mind, something that's broken means that it's just not working for you. It's not doing what you want. But just because something isn't acting how you expect it to doesn't mean you can or should force it to change."

Carter hummed in agreement, giving her an amused look. "Not to go too off-topic, but does anyone on the Waverider know that you're gone?"

"The ever-present and ever-judgemental Gideon surely does."

"So, then, they could leave while we're gone?"

Hermione laughed, pulling out her wand and beginning to dismantle the easiest of Dolohov's wards. "Don't worry, I'll be able to get us back. I left one half of a tethered portkey in the main cabin."

Crossing his arms over his chest, Carter leaned against an iron fence posts. "And what exactly is a portkey?"

"It's another kind of magical transportation. How it's typically used is you imbue an object with magic, tether it to a place, and then use a key word or phrase to active it the object and transport you to the place it's attached to. I changed the makeup of the spell a bit so that instead of the magic tying an object and a place together, I can tie two objects together. It's much cleaner, safer, and can be used repeatedly. It's how I brought you back to the ship after Savage stabbed you."

"Funny that I don't remember that," he told her dryly.

"Understandable," Hermione nodded. "Memory tends to be less reliable with old age."

"You're only as old as you feel," Carter argued.

Glancing over at him, Hermione remarked, "In your case, it'd be better to go with, 'You're only as old as you look'. Your heart is young, but your mind is old and we both know those memories are weighing you down."

Leonard wasn't thrilled to be sent out on a reconnaissance mission with Ray and Stein so soon. And he especially didn't like that Rip had vetoed bringing along Hermione, stating that, once again, they shouldn't become too reliant on her abilities and that it was vital that the Soviet's had no knowledge that a magical being not under their jurisdiction was in the area.

He thought that it might be a smart idea to have a magical emergency exit available to them should things went sideways- as was sure to be the case since they were bringing their weakest link along- but what did Leonard know?

While Stein was down in the labs searching for what Savage was working on, they were upstairs securing the control room.

It surprised him that the Soviet's would set up an apparently top secret and expensive project in what was little more than a large warehouse, with an open main floor and an upper floor that was a maze of metal walkways connecting offices and storage rooms. Then again, the Russians were rather known for being stingy bastards. At least in his experience.

When Stein announced that Savage had been working on creating a Soviet Firestorm, he wasn't surprised. Of course Savage was trying to find a way to even out the playing field with them. It was when he stated that he planned on taking the thermal core that was needed in order to create a new Firestorm that he started to worry.

"Need I remind you, this is a reconnaissance mission," Rip told him.

"It's only a matter of time before Vostok figures out how to stabilize a Soviet Firestorm," Stein's snapped. "I'm not leaving without it. It's the key to building others just like me."

Once Rip finally gave in to Stein's stubbornness, Ray began working on taking the core offline so that it could be safely removed.

"Remember, Dr. Palmer," Stein told the other scientist. "Shutting down the core incorrectly can lead to the creation of-"

"Strangeness, black holes, and uncontrolled fusion reactions that consume the universe?" Ray finished. "See, I was listening during class, Professor."

After a moment, Leonard impatiently demanded, "How we doing, Boy Scout?"

"Uh, point of fact, I completed all twenty-one merit badges, including nuclear science, so I'm an Eagle Scout," the other man told him proudly.

Leonard nodded, doing his best not to shoot the idiot and call it good. He wasn't currently wearing the suit- with him dead, it could just be given to someone less annoying.

"Uh oh," Ray announced, looking out the windows in front of them and standing. "We got a problem. Valentina's headed toward the core containment unit. The radiation Stein's about to unleash… if she opens the door-"

"We're here to stop Savage from building a nuclear-powered superhero," Leonard interrupted. "Saving some commie broad ain't on the agenda."

"Even if the radiation doesn't kill her, Savage will the second he finds out the lab's been sabotaged," Ray argued earnestly. "We gotta get her out of here."

He couldn't understand why Ray was being so obtuse right now. Vostok was working for Savage- Leonard might not have any actual proof of that, but his gut instincts were rarely ever wrong. Savage wasn't going to kill her while she might still be useful to him. And even if he did, who cares? Her life wasn't worth more than theirs.

"Well, who's gonna shut down the core, Raymond?" Leonard hissed, stalking over to him. "I skipped that merit badge."

"Raymond, why is the thermal core still running at full power?" Stein demanded.

"I'll handle the core," Ray told him. "You handle Valentina."

"You're willing to risk the mission for a woman you barely even know?"

Ray grinned. "Be helpful to others." At the blank look on Leonard's face, he continued, "It's the Scout motto."

Leonard wondered if this was the real reason that Rip hadn't wanted to include Hermione on this mission- she would have skinned this idiot alive by now, time constraints be damned. "30 seconds," he growled, pushing Ray back down. "I'll get Vostok, you kill the power for Stein. No matter what happens, you don't leave this room until it's done. Got it?" Ray nodded. "Promise me, Raymond," Leonard pressed.

"I promise."

Racing out of the room, Leonard moved to intercept Vostok before she could make it to the lab.

"Bad idea," he announced stepping out onto the walkway right in front of the scientist and leaning up against the wall.

She froze, staring at him with wide eyes. "What are you doing here?" she hissed.

"Believe me, I've been asking myself the same question," he responded.

The confusion on her face shifted to a look of realization. "That night at the Bolshoi. It was you who stole my keys."

"And your wallet," Leonard added, leaving out her bracelet. "But it was nothing personal."

Scoffing, Vostok turned away from him, glancing down at the containment unit Stein was in. Jerking forward, she demanded, "What the hell is that man doing?! He has no idea what the core is capable of."

"Relax," he told her. "He's the one who invented it."

Vostok's eyes lit up, and Leonard realized he'd made a mistake.

"I'm the first person to have ever seen cosmic radiation with his own eyes," Stein stated softly.

"You know, let's keep it that way," Ray suggested. "Snart, you better keep Valentina out of the core containment unit."

"You used me," Vostok spat at Leonard. "You work for American government."

Leonard couldn't help smirking. "I'm wanted by the American government. Does that count?" When Vostok simply responded with a disgusted look before turning away, he continued, "Look, I may be your white knight just this once." Not that you need it, but unfortunately Ray is too stupid to see that. "That weapon Savage has you building? He's creating a nuclear-powered monster."

Vostok gave a small huff of laughter, spinning back around to face him, a loaded gun pointed directly at his face. "I know," she told him with a smile, reaching out to take his weapon out of its holster and tossing it aside. "It was sweet of you to think of me as a damsel in distress, but I'm not the one who needs rescuing."

"Don't flatter yourself, sweetheart," he drawled, unconcerned. "I'm not the sentimental type."

"No," she agreed. "But your partner, the physicist with the big brown eyes, is."

Moving so that she was behind him, gun still aimed with a steady hand at his head, Vostok maneuvered them so that Leonard was pressed against the railing facing the control room opposite from where Raymond was working, and she wrapped herself around him. Keeping the gun pressed against the underside of his jaw, Vostok leaned into to his ear to speak into the comm.

"Turn the core back online," she ordered. Raymond looked up, shooting up at sight of them. "You will turn it back on, or I will put a bullet in your friend's head."

"Don't you dare," Leonard instructed. "She's gonna shoot me whether you do it or not."

Hopefully Rip was still listening in and would be sending in the cavalry.

"That may be true," Vostok agreed. "And you can take that gamble if you like. It's only his life you wager."

"Almost there," Stein reassured them. Since he kept cutting in and out, Leonard knew that he wasn't aware of what was going on.

"I'm not joking, Raymond," Leonard snapped. "Don't you dare push that button."

Raymond stared at them for a moment before looking down.

After a moment, Stein came back on. "Raymond, what's going on? The core just went back online."

"Sorry, Professor," Raymond whispered. "I had to do it."

"You idiot," Leonard hissed through gritted teeth.

Guards were moving down the walkway and into the control room. They were out of time.

"This is more boring than I thought it would be," Carter commented.

"My apologies," Hermione drawled, carefully concentrating on removing a rune cluster in the correct order. "Perhaps I should stop what I'm doing so that, the moment you step foot over the property lines, you can experience what it feels like to have your blood literally begin boiling. That would liven things up for you, wouldn't it?"

He chuckled. "That'd win the title of the most interesting death I've experienced so far."

She successfully unraveled the wards. "When you remember that you've died over two hundred times, that statement just becomes sad."

"I don't know why you're sad- Savage never killed you and then fed your remains to his loyal servants."

Glancing up, Hermione said, "At least he never fed you to them while you were still alive."

Carter groaned. "Man, this feels like a Criminal Minds episode."

"Criminal Minds wouldn't touch this with a ten-foot pole," she snorted.

Standing up, Hermione ran one last series of detection charms. "Alright, it should be safe to enter. However, just so we're clear, I take no responsibility for what may happen to you once we cross the property line."

"Duly noted," Carter nodded, straightening up. "However, I'm going to have to insist that it's ladies first."

"Ah yes, I can see the charm that won over a high priestess of Horus."

Hermione unlatched the gate and strode through without hesitating. She'd done all she could- if she had missed a ward, then she'd be dead as soon as her toe passed the line.

When both she and Carter made it unscathed, she relaxed slightly. "First hurdle down," she muttered.

Glancing between her and the house, Carter sighed. "There are going to be more wards on the house, aren't there?"

"Yes, though hopefully not as many as before. Now that I know what pattern Dolohov uses when tying his wards and runes together, it shouldn't take as long to undo it all, but you still might want to get comfortable."

Stein stepped out of the containment unit with a gray box clutched in his hands, looking pale and shaky. Guards instantly surrounded him, automatic weapons at the ready.

"Professor Stein," Vostok called, and Leonard watched as the professor looked up at them and froze in horror. "Your comrade here tells me you know quite a bit about this project of mine. Very good. You and I have much to discuss."

The guards knocked the box out of his hands and then two of them grabbed him by the arms, dragging him away. Out of the corner of his eye, Leonard spotted a very familiar shadow making its way towards him.

"What are you waiting for?" Leonard murmured, once Stein was out of sight. "You forget how to use that thing?"

Vostok pulled him away from the railing and lightly pushed him a few steps in front of her. "My employer, Mr. Savage, would very much like to meet you and the rest of your friends."

Leonard was sure he would. "Careful what you wish for," he warned with a smirk.

"This where the party's at?" Mick shouted, shooting a wave of fire at Vostok.

Throwing herself away from Leonard, Vostok took off down a random corridor and was quickly out of sight.

Mick kicked Leonard's cold gun back to him and he quickly scooped it up, joining Mick as he began shooting at the Soviet guards that were descending on them.

As they were making their way towards the exit, a guard got in a lucky shot, hitting Mick in the shoulder. His partner cried out in pain, but didn't stop moving, running straight towards one of the men that had snuck up on them and punching him with his good arm.

His comm crackled back to life, and Leonard heard Rip calling, "Mr. Snart, can you hear me? Do not let Vostok leave with that thermal core!"

Leonard glanced down, seeing the case with the thermal core that Stein had dropped still laying on the floor. When he looked behind him, he saw Mick being attacked on all sides by at least eight guards.

"Get the hell out of here!" Mick shouted at him.

He hesitated, ducking behind a metal pillar for protections as bullets flew around his head.

Mick didn't stop fighting, even though he clearly knew that he wasn't going to win. "What are you waiting for?! Go! GO!"

Holstering his gun, Leonard stepped up onto the metal railing and leapt for chain pulley, using it to lower himself down to the main floor. Barely avoiding the barrage of bullets sailing down from the ceiling, he grabbed the case and dove behind the metal containment unit.

"Now might be a good time to send in reinforcements," he shouted into the comm. "Mick and Stein just got pinched by the Ruskies."

"You're gonna have to get out of there right now," Rip told him.

"They're hanging us out to dry, Rip! I need backup!"

"I'm afraid our only option is retreat."

"Where the hell is Hermione?" he demanded. "Now is not the time to be playing it safe- send her in so she can get us all the hell out of here!"

"I can't. Miss Granger is no longer on the ship and I have no idea where she went but she took Carter with her."

That was not what Leonard wanted to hear. "What about my partner?"

"Well, until we devise our next move, Mr. Rory will have to fend for himself. Remember the mission. If the Soviets get that thermal core back, your partner will not be the only one who dies."

Leonard let out a low growl but did as he was told, collecting the case and racing for the exit.

Rip better have a damn good reason for screwing them over. And so should Hermione.

"And we're inside," Hermione stated cheerfully.

The inside of Dolohov's house was exactly what she'd thought it would be- dark, cold, and clearly neglected. It was exactly how she thought the inside of his mind would look.

Carter glanced around, expression unimpressed. "I'm guessing there are going to be a lot of wards set to attack anyone without magic?" he asked.

"I highly doubt it," she told him, heading towards the stairs. "No non-magical person could have gotten through all those wards. Besides, I'm not sure that kind of magic would have any effect on you; you're not magical, but you do have some magic in you, remember?"

"Well, that's something."

When they reached the second-floor, Hermione turned left and made her way to the two ornate double-doors at the end of the hallway.

"Ignore the portraits," she called to Carter. "They can't hurt you and I guarantee they aren't worth listening to."

It was silent for a moment and then she heard Carter start swearing. A small grin pulled at the corners of her lips, despite the dark emotions swirling around in her chest. She'd been so intrigued by the sight of moving pictures when she was younger, but the talking portraits were just unsettling in the beginning.

Pushing open the doors to what was sure to be either the library, the study, or the master bedroom, Hermione was relieved to see that she'd found Dolohov's study and library- it would seem he was Pure enough to be Riddle's dog but not rich enough to have separate rooms.

"In here," she told Carter, making a beeline for the bookshelves. After casting yet another round of detection charms, she positioned him in front of a shelf with one of her bags. "Go through these books. Take any that look interesting and/or old. Don't touch the surrounding shelves- they have cursed books on them."

Leaving him to his task, Hermione walked over to the desk and began sorting through the pile of papers on top. It would appear that, while Dolohov had managed to send all his important and private documents out of Britain before the Aurors captured him, he hadn't been able to further hide them once they arrived.

"So," Carter started conversationally. "What's going on with you and Leonard?"

She gave him a look but answered honestly. "Well, I horribly invaded his privacy and learned more about his past than he was willing to share and he said he forgives me but I'm not sure that true. He's also mad at me for not telling anyone that I was injured in the fight with Savage but hasn't yelled at me about it yet. And I'm feeling horribly guilty for learning about his past when there's not a lot about mine that I'm willing to share. Other than all that though, not much. How are things with you and Kendra?"

He snorted. "We're doing about as well as you and Leonard apparently. She's feeling guilty for not remembering me until I almost died and for being so harsh with me in the beginning. She's also worried about controlling her inner hawk goddess and is jealous that I'm not having the same issue, which makes her feel even worse because she thinks she shouldn't be wishing that I was suffering alongside her. And I'm concerned about the fact that she apparently remembers loving me but still hasn't been able to access all her memories because I can't imagine that she's going to be able to love me for very long if she doesn't remember why."

Hermione finished her sorting and placed a stack of paper into her bag. "I can't help with those first few issues, but I do have experience with memories that have been magically locked away. In your case, it sounds like both of your memories are magically sealed at the beginning of each of your lives and the seal slowly dissolves as time passes. I haven't spoken to Kendra much, but it seems like she was in denial for quite a while about her powers and your pasts. Even though she says that she's trying to accept it, I don't know if that's actually the case."

Carter was quiet for almost a minute. "What happens if she doesn't accept who she is?"

Unraveling the wards around a hidden drawer, Hermione answered, "She's going to have more issues- you both are. Because Kendra hasn't accepted her inner hawk goddess- which I do believe is holding the majority of her memories and almost all of her strength- her hawk goddess is trying to get out. The only way to do that is to take control of Kendra. Right now, she's only losing control for short spans of time but the longer she remains… disjointed, the more control she's going to lose."

"What can I do?" he asked, walking over to join her with the bag full of books clutched in his hand.

"I don't think there's anything you can do," she admitted. "But I do believe that Rip's choice to have Kendra train with Sara was a good one. Kendra's so focused on her humanity while Sara is so focused on being a warrior… hopefully they can bring balance to one another."

A drawer popped out of the side of the desk and Hermione grinned. "As for your concern about Kendra not loving you without her memories, I really wouldn't worry about it. You've been together for so long that loving you is almost a part of her DNA. I've seen cases of memories being sealed magically and what always happens is that even if the memories are gone, the emotions will remain."

After doing a brief check of the drawer's contents, Hermione dumped it into her bag.

"Most of the strong emotions I've gotten from Kendra since I met her have been anger," Carter commented, handing Hermione his bag.

Giving him a small smile, she asked, "Before you remembered her, did have this nagging feeling that you weren't where you were supposed to me?" When he nodded, Hermione continued, "I'm guessing she did too. You were both searching for something. But you remembered Kendra, you knew what you were looking for. She had no idea. And just because you ended up being what she needed to find doesn't mean you were what she wanted to find."

Carter nodded slowly. "Did you know that you kind of sound like a fortune cookie? The whole 'I was what she needed to find but not what she wanted' bit sounds all mysterious and mystical."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "And what does it say about you that you understood every word?"

"That I should stop eating Chinese food."

Once Hermione was finished with the desk, he asked, "So, what now? Are we done here?"

"Almost. Just need to check the basement."

"Then what?"

Smiling brightly, Hermione pulled out a can of gasoline and a lighter. "Then we are going to burn this place to the ground."

Shaking his head, he told her, "Mick will be disappointed to have missed this."

"I know, but I'll make sure to bring him next time."