[TWD x Resident Evil] — Chapter 270 - The State of Earth

"So," Hermione said, "what happened on Earth while I was gone?"

Tony crossed to a massive holographic display, tapped it a few times, and pulled up a cluster of profile images with attached files.

"After Pierce died, what was left of Hydra got carved up between three people. First is Baron Strucker — the one we locked up before he slipped out. Second is someone who came out of nowhere, woman named Ava Starr. She got her hands on some of Pierce's leftover resources and tech, and used them to pull together a following. Third is Jasper Sitwell. Yeah, the bald one."

"And that Sokovia base we hit a while back? That was Strucker's."

Hermione's eyebrow lifted slightly.

Ava and Xiao Yi?

Interesting. She hadn't given them any specific instructions back then, just let them do whatever they wanted, and they'd actually managed to carve out their own territory in Hydra's wreckage.

"That said," Tony's tone shifted, and his grin got wider, "they won't be a problem much longer. Which brings me to my new masterpiece."

"Namely... Ultron!"

He pointed to a nearby projection of a hovering robot running complex data-stream analysis.

"Ultron's intelligence is evolving faster than anyone imagined. It's already inside global networks. Not long ago, it pinpointed Baron Strucker's stronghold in Sokovia. We deployed the full Avengers lineup, hit the base hard, and Strucker's in custody. Total success. Ultron was indispensable, precise intel, real-time tactical support, the works."

Tony's voice brimmed with pride. He sounded exactly like someone showing off their favorite invention.

Something stirred in Hermione's chest. "Did you use my Mind Stone?"

"Of course!" Tony said, without hesitation. "How else could Ultron have evolved this fast?"

Hermione went quiet.

If he used the Mind Stone... then a purely benevolent AI was off the table.

It was being cooperative right now, even helping the Avengers round up Hydra agents. But that might just mean it was biding its time. Waiting.

What was it after?

Why hadn't it gone straight to rebellion, the way it originally had?

She pushed the thoughts down and turned to Skye.

"Skye." Hermione frowned slightly. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be with Coulson's team?"

Skye shot a glance at Tony and let out a long-suffering sigh.

"Long story. Tony found out Coulson was still alive, followed the thread, and tracked us down. Then he discovered my powers and decided I'd be more useful here, that I could contribute more with the Avengers."

She shrugged. "So. I'm an Avenger now."

Hermione laughed and looked at Tony. "Coulson's probably sobbing in a bathroom stall somewhere. He spent all that time developing his best asset, and you just waltzed in and poached her."

Skye laughed too.

"He was reluctant, but he still supported me. Said the Avengers could give me a better platform and more resources, help me actually understand and use my abilities properly. And besides..."

She paused, something a little harder to name crossing her expression. "Since you left, more and more wizards have been popping up. The Coven and the Ministry of Magic are enemies — they butt heads constantly over weird incidents — but both of them apparently can't stand superpowered criminals. Lately, the troublemakers have gone surprisingly quiet. My guess? Nobody wants to end up on either faction's radar."

"So Coulson's team didn't have much to do, and he let me go."

Hermione blinked. She hadn't expected the magical factions she'd set in motion to moonlight as a crime deterrent.

That was... actually a pleasant surprise.

Just then, she noticed a woman not far away, an Asian woman in a white lab coat, staring at her with unblinking intensity, body ever so slightly trembling.

Tony followed Hermione's gaze immediately.

"Oh, right, almost forgot. This is Dr. Helen Cho, top of her field in genetic engineering and biotech. The Regeneration Cradle she built is basically a medical miracle. Tissue engineering, rapid cell repair, organ fabrication. Next time any of us take a hit, recovery time drops dramatically."

Hermione recognized her immediately, of course.

Nagini.

She smiled and gave Helen Cho a small nod of acknowledgment.

Helen Cho shivered, a flush of excitement rising in her cheeks. She opened her mouth, clearly wanted to say something, and couldn't manage a single word.

Tony watched the whole thing and made a face.

"Dr. Cho is a die-hard fan of yours, by the way. Your reputation as a witch apparently carries way more weight with the younger crowd than mine does as Iron Man. Seriously..."

He could not have sounded more sour about it.

Pepper, standing beside him, gave him a tired pat and shook her head with a smile. "Tony. Why are you competing with Hermione over this?"

She turned to Hermione, her expression warm and genuinely worried. "Hermione, what did you go through out there? Tell us. We've all been worried about you."

The room immediately lit up with agreement.

Aside from Thor, who occasionally dropped details about Asgard, almost everyone present knew next to nothing about the wider universe. They'd heard enough to know it was vast and strange and mostly terrifying, but that made it all the more fascinating. Now someone who'd actually gone out into it and come back was sitting right in front of them.

Seeing the way everyone was looking at her, Hermione accepted the inevitable.

She found a comfortable spot, settled in, took a moment to gather her thoughts, and began.

She didn't dramatize the fighting. Just recounted things calmly, almost offhandedly, how she'd brought the Ravagers to heel, how she'd handled Ronan the Accuser, how she'd gutted Knowhere, how she'd killed the Celestial Ego...

She thought she was keeping it understated. Modest, even.

The Avengers heard it like thunderclaps.

Ravagers?

Ronan the Accuser?

The Kree Empire?

A living planet?

A Celestial?

Knowhere?

None of these names meant anything to them, but just hearing them, they knew none of it was small. Every word pushed past the outer edge of what they'd thought possible.

When she finished, the room went completely silent.

Tony's mouth was open. His drink was tilting dangerously in his hand.

Steve's jaw was tight, his expression carved into something grave and heavy.

Banner murmured, mostly to himself, "A living planet... that alone rewrites everything we understand about biology..."

They looked at each other. Every face reflected the same thing: shock so deep it had no bottom.

Skye's eyes were wide as they could go, her lips parted, not quite able to close her mouth, completely lost in the scale of what Hermione had described.

They all looked at her, this young woman, delicately featured, sitting there like it was nothing, and felt something shift in how they saw her. Like they were looking at something ancient dressed up in human form.

They'd known she was powerful. But powerful had meant something comprehensible. Something within the range of things they understood.

This wasn't that.

Destroying interstellar fleets. Sweeping through galactic black markets. Killing a living god.

Could a human actually do that?

After a long silence, Tony finally swallowed and said, very carefully, "So... you came back because you were just passing by? Or..."

What he meant was: you're on a completely different level now. Do the small matters of Earth even register anymore?

Hermione smiled. "I came back to see all of you. What, I take one trip around the universe and I stop counting as an Earthling?"

Not an Earthling, everyone thought simultaneously. Not even a person.

Just listen to what she did. Which part of any of that was something a human being could pull off?!

➤ Next: Hermione, You Couldn't Possibly Be