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New York. The Safehouse.
"Hydra is inside S.H.I.E.L.D."
The words hung in the air, heavy and suffocating. Natasha watched Hermione closely, waiting for the shock, the denial, the panic.
Instead, Hermione nodded, her expression serious but entirely unruffled.
"Of course I know," Hermione said, grabbing a bag of chips. "Isn't that common sense? It's in all the old textbooks."
Natasha was completely stunned. She glanced at Steve, who looked equally bewildered.
"Even... wizards know about Hydra?" Natasha asked, her voice trembling slightly.
Has the rot spread that far? she wondered frantically. Has Hydra become so famous that even the magical community teaches it in school? Is nowhere safe?
Before she could spiral further, Hermione paused. Her brow furrowed, and a look of genuine confusion crossed her face.
"Wait. That's not right."
Hermione gestured with a potato chip. "Hydra is massive. It has regenerative heads. It breathes poison. How did it manage to hide in the Triskelion without being detected? Did you keep it in the basement? What are you feeding it?"
Natasha blinked. "Feeding it?"
"Because they have so many of them," Natasha corrected, confused. "They have taken control of S.H.I.E.L.D. They are everywhere."
"Impossible!"
Hermione stood up, looking genuinely shocked for the first time. "There's only one Hydra! It's a unique magical beast! How can there be a whole group? Did someone breed them? That's illegal under the Ban on Experimental Breeding!"
Natasha was losing her mind. "Hydra is a group! It always has been! And it is currently sitting in the Triskelion!"
"Impossible!" Hermione argued back, looking frustrated. "The Triskelion is an office building! A Hydra is fifty feet tall! How do you fit a fifty-foot snake monster in a cubicle?!"
Natasha: "???"
Steve: "???"
The conversation had derailed so hard it had crashed into a ravine.
Just as Natasha was questioning her sanity, Steve Rogers, who had been silent and observant, suddenly stepped forward. He raised a hand.
"Wait..."
He looked at Hermione, then at Natasha. The soldier's intuition kicked in.
"Are you two... talking about the same 'Hydra'?"
Natasha froze. The gears turned in her head.
She looked at Hermione—the girl who commanded dragons and rode broomsticks—and asked cautiously, "Hermione... which Hydra are you talking about?"
"What kind of Hydra?" Hermione retorted matter-of-factly. "The Lernaean Hydra. The nine-headed serpent. The one Hercules fought."
"As far as I know, it was suppressed by Zeus near Olympus thousands of years ago. How did it end up on Earth? And why did it join S.H.I.E.L.D.? Did you offer it a pension?"
Natasha: "..."
Steve: "..."
There was a long, painful silence.
"You mean..." Natasha's voice was filled with a mix of speechlessness and despair. "You mean the monster from Greek mythology?"
"Otherwise what?" Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Is there another Hydra I should know about?"
Natasha covered her face with her hands. "Oh my god."
They were talking about completely different things from beginning to end. One was talking about Nazis; the other was talking about Dungeons & Dragons.
Natasha took a breath to explain, but Steve beat her to it.
"Wait," Steve asked, his eyes wide. "You just said Hydra and Zeus? You mean... the Greek Gods actually exist?"
Hermione nodded as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"Odin and Thor both exist, don't they? You work with one. Why is Zeus so strange? He's a bit of a drama queen, but he's real."
Natasha took a deep breath, forcing herself to focus on the imminent threat to global security rather than the theological implications of Olympus.
"Hermione," Natasha said firmly. "The Hydra we're talking about isn't a monster. It's not a snake."
"It is an organization. A secret paramilitary cult established by Nazis during World War II."
Natasha paced the room, explaining rapidly. "We always thought it had been wiped out by Captain America. But we were wrong. They infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. They grew inside us like a parasite."
"Now," her voice darkened, "the entire agency, from the strike teams to the World Security Council, is likely compromised. Their goal is 'Project Insight'—using Helicarriers to eliminate millions of potential threats before they happen. They want to control the world."
After Natasha finished speaking, the room fell silent again.
Hermione looked puzzled. She processed the information—Nazis, spies, world domination.
She was silent for a few seconds, then sighed softly, rolling her eyes.
"Sigh. Not again?"
Natasha: "?"
Hermione slumped onto the sofa, looking bored. "Another one who wants to conquer the world? Why is this planet so unlucky? It gets conquered every Tuesday."
She scoffed. "And they used 'Hydra' as their name? Did they pay the copyright fee? That's trademark infringement."
Seeing Hermione's completely nonchalant attitude, Steve could hardly believe his ears.
He couldn't help but raise his voice. "Hermione! This is no small matter!"
"Hydra wants to rule the world!" Steve shouted, his jaw set. "They will kill millions! Freedom will be dead! This is a catastrophe!"
He spoke urgently, trying to make her understand the gravity of the situation. This wasn't a game.
Hermione blinked. Her face still showed that same detached, mild confusion.
"So what?"
She countered with a calm question.
"So what?!" Steve nearly jumped out of his skin. "Isn't this serious enough?!"
He couldn't understand it. This was a massive conspiracy! It was tyranny! Why was she reacting like he had told her the milk was expired?
Steve looked at Natasha, hoping she would back him up.
But Natasha didn't speak. She looked into Hermione's clear, ancient eyes, and suddenly, she understood.
She sighed inwardly. I almost forgot.
Hermione wasn't one of them. She wasn't a soldier. She wasn't even really a "civilian" in the normal sense. She was a Wizard.
Hermione tilted her head slightly, pondering Steve's outrage before speaking slowly.
"Ruling the world... Hmm. That sounds like a pretty tiring job. Making laws? Managing traffic? Collecting taxes? Just thinking about the paperwork gives me a headache."
"And even if they succeed," Hermione shrugged, "so what?"
"Does Muggle rule over Muggles really make such a big difference to the world itself? Whether the flag is an Eagle or a Skull... you're all just short-lived humans playing King of the Hill."
"Aren't Muggles constantly fighting over borders anyway?"
Her tone carried a hint of pure, anthropological curiosity.
Natasha thought to herself, Just as I expected.
They viewed the world through the lens of survival and freedom. Hermione viewed it through the lens of a higher species watching ants fight over a crumb.
To Hermione, terrorists, dictators, and corrupt governments were just "Muggle Internal Disputes." Unless they involved aliens (Chitauri) or magic (Malekith), she simply didn't care. It wasn't her jurisdiction.
Steve understood too. The fire in his eyes dimmed, replaced by a weary acceptance.
He and Natasha exchanged a glance.
Hermione's attitude was like watching the neighbor's dogs fight. It was noisy, maybe annoying, but you didn't call the police. You just closed the window.
And maybe, Steve thought, that's for the best.
They remembered the warning Professor McGonagall had given during the Convergence. Hermione was already under immense pressure from the Ministry of Magic for revealing herself to stop the aliens.
If she intervened in a purely human political conflict? If she started assassinating human leaders? The Wizarding World might actually turn on her.
Steve's furrowed brows relaxed. He straightened his spine, gripping his shield.
We can't drag Hermione into this anymore.
The last fight was an invasion. This was a civil war. This was S.H.I.E.L.D.'s mess. His mess.
"You're right," Steve said quietly. "This is our fight."
If they couldn't even solve a human problem without running to the Witch for help, what kind of superheroes were they? They couldn't rely on magic to fix humanity's flaws.
Steve looked at Hermione. "Stay here. Eat your chips. We'll handle the Nazis."
Hermione smiled, popping another chip into her mouth. "Good luck, Captain. Try not to die."
Outside the Safehouse.
Steve and Natasha walked to the car in silence. The winter air was biting.
"Captain," Natasha said, unlocking the door. "What do we do next?"
Steve looked at the horizon.
"We find Fury's toolbox," Steve said grimly. "And then? We burn it down. All of it."