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High above Manhattan, the wind howled around the shattered, crippled form of Gideon Malick. He was suspended in the air, his limbs twisted at impossible angles, bleeding, his mind wide awake and screaming in silence.
"You are patient," Hermione said, her voice amplified by magic, cutting through the wind. "But I am less so. Now, tell me the truth." She raised her wand, the tip glowing ominously. "Crucio!"
The pain was instantaneous, raw, and absolute. It was a neurological firestorm that ripped through Malick's body, forcing a high-pitched, inhuman shriek from his throat.
"I—I said it! I said it!" Malick gasped, his body convulsing violently in the air. The will of the powerful politician was utterly erased by the magic of pure agony.
"Why the nuclear bomb?" Hermione demanded.
Malick confessed in a strained, choking rush of words, the truth pouring out against his will. "I was afraid! Of the lack of control! Your power… the Hulk… the risk was too great! They were necessary sacrifices! Just… necessary sacrifices!"
Every word of his confession was amplified by Hermione's magic and broadcast across the still-smoking streets of Manhattan. The citizens, who had just been celebrating the victory of the Avengers, froze. They heard the callous, cold-blooded justification for their annihilation.
"What? Necessary sacrifices?!" "He wanted to kill us! He wanted to kill children!" "We thought they were our protectors! They are the real demons!"
The joy of victory instantly curdled into a furious, primal rage. The crowd, already traumatized and adrenalized, turned into a roaring, bloodthirsty mob. They surged forward, their screams no longer for help, but for vengeance.
Hermione looked down at the frenzy below, her expression cold and unyielding. "You saw the civilians as necessary sacrifices, Mr. Malick," she said, her voice carrying a terrible finality. "Now, you will become a sacrifice to appease their justifiable anger."
She flicked her wand, releasing the invisible bonds that held him.
Gideon Malick, the once-powerful member of the World Security Council, fell from the sky like a broken doll. His terrified scream was instantly swallowed by the roar of the mob. The people rushed him, a tidal wave of boots, fists, and teeth. Within minutes, the powerful politician was nothing more than a stain on the asphalt.
The Avengers, hovering nearby, watched the brutal, necessary reckoning in horrified silence.
The fighting was over, the cleanup had begun. Tony rubbed his temples, his armor's systems working overtime to repair structural damage. "I need a drink," he muttered, his voice flat. "And some comfort food. I know a shawarma place two blocks over. The Shawarma Girl used to work there. Said it was the best."
"I can make shawarma," Hermione interjected, a small, proud smile on her face. "I'm very professional."
Tony looked at her, his lips twitching. "You make bubbling, skull-shaped potions, kid. I'm not sure I want to eat anything you cook."
"Let's just get the damn alien," Steve said, his voice grim, pulling their focus back to the task at hand. "We still have Loki."
They returned to Stark Tower and found Loki exactly where they had left him. The God of Mischief was leaning against the table, his arms folded, a look of profound boredom on his face. Seeing them, he pushed himself upright and extended his bare wrists.
"Are we done?" Loki sighed. "I assume the performance was sufficient?"
Thor didn't hesitate. He grabbed the cuffs and clamped them onto his brother's wrists.
Hermione, however, was already in action. She ignored the dramatic surrender, focusing entirely on the Mind Scepter. With a precise, sudden movement, she cast a powerful severing charm. The delicate, elaborate casing of the scepter shattered, falling to the floor like glass. Exposed in the center, pulsing with a dazzling yellow light, was the raw Mind Stone.
She pulled out the pendant she had fashioned earlier—the silver, Eye of Agamotto-like containment unit with six grooves. With extreme care, she picked up the Stone and set it into the first groove. Click. The Mind Stone fit perfectly.
She then turned her attention to the second prize: the Cosmic Cube.
Thor saw her intent and was instantly protective. "Hermione, no! That really can't be taken away. The Bifrost is destroyed. I need the Cube's energy to get back to Asgard!"
Just as their argument was heating up, a soft, profound sound resonated in Thor's mind. He froze, his head tilted. He was listening to his father.
A slow smile broke across his face, a mixture of shock and relief. "Father said… he can give you the Cube, Hermione," Thor relayed, his voice awestruck. "But he needs to borrow it first. To fix the Bifrost."
Hermione's eyes lit up. Odin trusts me.
She nodded, accepting the terms of the God-King. She reached out and took the Tesseract, the massive blue cube crackling with stored cosmic power, into her hands.
"Displuvium Frange!" she whispered, a powerful, invisible force striking the Cube's crystalline casing.
With a final, sharp CRACK, the container shattered, releasing a blinding, contained pillar of blue light. In her palm, where the cube had been, lay the raw Space Stone, pulsing with the infinite, terrible power of the cosmos. The two Stones now rested in her necklace, the start of her absolute arsenal.