"Jarvis, let him in."
Hermione frowned slightly, wondering what had brought him here at this hour.
The elevator doors slid open. Jasper Sitwell stepped out wearing a wide, ingratiating smile.
"Miss Witch, good evening."
Hermione gave a small nod. "Little Yi. What brings you?"
Sitwell glanced at Tony and Pepper, clearly wanting to say something, equally clearly unable to say it.
Tony read him in about half a second and curled his lip.
"S.H.I.E.L.D. and their endless cloak-and-dagger nonsense."
Pepper quietly tugged his sleeve and shook her head.
"Tony. Let's go. Don't interrupt Little Hermione's business."
Tony went, dragging his feet the whole way.
The room emptied. Just Hermione and Sitwell now, and still he didn't speak. He looked around slowly, expression cautious, hesitant.
Well. Careful little thing, isn't he.
Hermione understood immediately. He was afraid of being bugged.
"Salvio Hexia."
One light flick of her wand, and an invisible barrier settled over them both, sealing the space from everything outside.
Sitwell exhaled. "Miss Witch. I came tonight to tell you something."
He lowered his voice.
"Do you know about... HYDRA?"
Huh?
Hermione blinked.
What is this little bald man playing at?
Sitwell drew a slow breath, set his jaw, and said, "HYDRA is a secret organization with a long history. They've been embedded inside S.H.I.E.L.D. for years, biding their time." He paused. "They've completely infiltrated the agency. I'm one of them." Another pause. "Their leader is Alexander Pierce. The people who attacked you — that was HYDRA."
He got it all out in one go, then watched her face carefully.
Hermione let surprise show on hers.
Not because of what he'd said. Because of what he was doing.
She'd known who he was from the start. She just hadn't expected the little bald man to walk in here and confess voluntarily.
What was this? Throwing in the towel? Flipping the table? Laying his cards down?
Or... defecting?
Sitwell caught her expression and pressed on. "I came tonight to pledge my allegiance to you. I'm hoping you'll protect me."
He'd heard what happened today. The alien that could wear anyone's face had rattled him badly.
After the Skrull incident broke, Fury had gone through the motions of distancing himself from the whole alien business. But Sitwell wasn't stupid. He could see perfectly well that Fury and that alien were working together.
HYDRA going around courting disaster was one thing. He'd learned to live with that. But now Fury had gone and dragged actual aliens into it.
He was an ordinary person. Stuck right in the middle of all this. What the hell was he supposed to do with that?
If he stayed, one of them was going to get him killed eventually.
He'd thought it over from every angle, and the conclusion was always the same: get out early. And right now, the only person who might actually be able to keep him safe was Miss Witch.
"That's why I made up my mind to come to you." He laid out his reasoning plainly, hoping she'd see he was being straight with her. "Miss Witch, I've told you everything I know. HYDRA likes to court death. S.H.I.E.L.D. is tangled up with aliens. I'm just an ordinary person. I genuinely cannot play this game."
Hermione listened to Sitwell's heartfelt speech and felt a laugh rising in her chest.
Good lord. Between one thing and another, they'd nearly broken the little bald man.
She nodded. "Mm. I already knew about HYDRA."
Sitwell froze.
"You... you already knew?"
He stared at her like she'd said something impossible.
Hermione nodded, a flicker of amusement in her eyes.
"I can read people's minds. Their memories too."
"The very first time Nick Fury introduced your group to me, I'd already pulled HYDRA out of your memories."
"Brock Rumlow. Grant Ward. John Garrett..."
She named them one by one.
Mind reading.
Sitwell's mouth fell open.
He had not seen that coming. Not even close. His understanding of exactly how dangerous Miss Witch was took a sharp leap upward, and his shock was genuine.
"Then... then why didn't you expose us?"
Hermione shrugged, utterly unbothered. "Why would I?"
"Muggle internal politics. What does any of that have to do with me?"
"That black egghead doesn't even pay my salary."
Something shifted in Sitwell's face.
Hermione wasn't what he'd thought. All that righteous behavior, the whole performance , it was exactly that. A performance.
He wasn't worried. He was relieved.
Before tonight, the decision to defect had cost him. Hermione was powerful, yes, but she was also young. Who could predict how she'd react to this kind of information? What if she decided to do the noble thing and hand him straight to Fury? That would be the end of him.
So he'd been gambling. Betting that she wasn't actually as principled as she looked.
He'd won.
She wasn't innocent at all. She was a black-hearted fox who'd had everyone fooled from day one. And somehow, that was the most reassuring thing Sitwell had heard in months. It meant she was more cunning than both S.H.I.E.L.D. and HYDRA combined. Working under someone like that was far safer than the alternative.
"Miss Witch, I am ready to serve you."
Hermione smiled.
"Good."
"You're sensible. I'll give you a chance."
"What do you need?" Sitwell asked quickly. "Should I act as a witness? Help expose HYDRA?"
Hermione shook her head. "No. Stay exactly where you are. Act like nothing happened."
"I'll keep you safe."
Sitwell breathed out and nodded. "Understood, Miss Witch."
He hesitated, then added, "One more thing — Pierce has put me in charge of interrogating that alien. He wants intelligence out of him."
"What would you like me to do?"
Hermione recognized the move for what it was. A pledge of loyalty. Proof of good faith.
She considered for a moment. "Take me to see the alien. Privately. That's all."
"Leave the rest to me."
Sitwell bent at the waist, almost ninety degrees.
"Miss Witch is humanity's true savior! S.H.I.E.L.D. is full of traitors! And HYDRA — all that effort, all that history, and they can't get anything right. Absolute waste of space, the lot of them!"
He kept going, spittle flying, tearing into both organizations with impressive enthusiasm.
Not bad. Keep talking.
Hermione watched the little bald man with quiet satisfaction, privately very amused.
➤ Next: Interrogating Talos — The Conversation
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