AN: Another story that's just been collecting dust. I don't know why...it has nothing at all to do with my tiny crush on Benedict. Nothing, I tell you! Original Khan was yummy, but my boy Sherlock playing him? Somebody fan me. Plus, I always kinda wanted Hermione to be one of those puppet masters when she grew up. This is super quick (again, I don't have a Beta for crossovers) but I hope you like it nonetheless. It is finished, so if there is interest, I'll be updating every few days. There are only four chapters, so you won't have a long wait. (It was supposed to be a one-shot. Stupid muse and her stupid infatuation!)

Let me know if it's worth posting the rest. Cheers, dears!

Hermione Granger, the summer after the fall of Voldemort, had pushed herself to complete an accelerated course load to finish her NEWTs. She'd sailed through them with the highest scores in recorded history.

That task settled, she'd immediately gone to Australia to inform her parents of what had occurred in the past year. Though she had modified their memories, she'd done it with their (reluctant) consent. Their reunion was filled with tears, joy and near-crippling relief. The couple, however, had made a wonderful life for themselves and so decided to stay on the larger island. There were still vast groups of Voldemort's followers evading custody and so the couple's choice to remain 'off-grid' relieved Hermione greatly. She had too much on her plate at the moment and worrying constantly about the two people who meant the most to her would only make it harder for her to take out the creeps targeting them.

And no matter how much safer they would have been had she not returned their memories, she had made a promise to them the night she sent them to Australia. She'd sworn to undo her spells as soon as Voldemort was gone and though she'd fudged the time a bit by taking her NEWTs, she wouldn't break that oath. Her parents had given up everything for her, after all.

The end of the Blood Wars (as the conflicts with Voldemort across all decades were being called) came with no rest for those who had fought. The wizarding world needed to be rebuilt-politically, physically, emotionally, and economically-from the ground up. Dark wizards hadn't simply surrendered with the fall of Tom Riddle. The half-blood had scattered cells all over the world, his network frighteningly entrenched in a plethora of countries. The plans he'd had for those countries only fueled Hermione's determination to prevent another maniac like him from rising again.

After Britain fell, he was planning on moving onto the rest of the world. Only his obsession with the prophecy curbed his attention and handed his opponent the means to end him.

Hermione learned all this and more when she went to work for the Ministry. Most people-her friends included-thought that she was a junior secretary to some nobody office worker. In reality, she was an Unspeakable slowly and surely moving witches and wizards into the positions she wanted to shape the rebuilding world as she wished. She'd always, always been the smartest person in the room, but people tended to overlook that. Sure, everyone knew that she could pull archaic or obscure spells out of her mind at the drop of a hat, but they forgot that she was more than a walking encyclopedia. They forgot or didn't realize that intelligence-true brilliance-was more than just theoretical information. Hermione was a genius and quite adept at getting what she wanted from whom she wanted.

The boys thought that she nagged them about the rules at school because she disliked rebelling. That was partly correct. What absolutely infuriated her was the way they completely disregarded the rules and, like a bull in a china shop, destroyed half the room to get to their goal. She worked within the parameters of the rules. She learned them, inside and out, every single loophole and technicality. She was a master at maneuvering any situation to her advantage because of that and it saw her getting much more accomplished than simply blowing through laws she didn't like.

Hermione knew the game and that was why she always won.

It also put her in a prime position to be very nearly running the Ministry. She, Amelia Bones (who had survived, barely), and Kingsley Shacklebolt, were the three people effective governing the wizarding world. Nothing happened unless it came from them.

Sitting back in her chair, Hermione rolled her shoulders to ease the ache between them. Her job required an obscene amount of paperwork. If she and her contacts were successful in their current project, however, the Ministry would be able to convert to computers within two years' time. It would make things so much easier and efficient. Magic was at its core a manipulation of energy, after all, and so she saw no reason that with the right arithmancy and runes, electronics couldn't be used in the wizarding world. Really, it was as if an electronic got a massive surge of energy when in contact with a witch or wizard and should a magical 'surge protector' be developed, then the problem would be eliminated.

A small tile on the edge of her desk suddenly turned mauve, breaking her out of her thoughts. Cursing, she drew her wand and touched the tip to the mauve tile. Instantly, she was transported to an office with the two most powerful people in the wizarding Britain. Her stomach twisted at the tautness of their expressions.

"What's happened?" she demanded, stowing her wand.

Kingsley promptly handed her a file as Amelia began a verbal briefing.

"We've penetrated Albania in pursuit of a few of Voldemort's more obscure followers. In the process-and quite by accident-one of the hitwizards stumbled across a research facility."

"Genetics?" Hermione mumbled with confusion as she absorbed the information from the file.

"Yes," the Minister grunted. "According to what Sanders was able to find, Voldemort was heavily supportive of efforts to manipulate genomes. He'd implanted a few of his followers into the fledgling lab decades ago."

Hermione's eyes widened in horror as her eyes flew over the paper. "He was attempting to bind magic to muggle genes."

Scowling, Kingsley nodded and sat forward at his desk. "It began as selective breeding and progressed. He wanted to create the perfect, obedient soldier. 'Project Chrysalis', it was called and had varying degrees of success. Phase I of the project was entirely wiped out."

"Twenty children destroyed because they were violent psychopaths," Amelia spat, her hands in fists in her lap.

The younger woman closed her eyes in anguish at the thought as Kingsley continued somberly.

"Phase II was better, but none of them lived passed the age of ten. Phase III, however, became known as 'Augments'. None of them have manifested magic, but they are stronger, smarter, and faster than muggles."

"Too magical for the muggle world and too muggle for the magical," The older witch sniffed in aggravation on behalf of the children. "Reports indicate that Voldemort was furious at what he saw as a failure, but he wasn't above using the Augments to further his cause. He considered them little more than dogs, and like any dog of pedigree, he asked a hefty price for them when unscrupulous governments and private wealth came knocking."

Hermione covered her mouth and looked back at the other two. "He sold them to the highest bidders as super-soldiers. How many are we talking about out in the open?"

Kingsley shook his head. "We can't confirm numbers without that facility. We do believe that the best of the best are still held there. Voldemort's plans for the Augments had just begun to be implemented shortly before Harry finished him. If he follows any kind of logical thought process, he probably began selling the weakest first, simply to feel out the market."

Snapping the file closed, Hermione furrowed her brow as she rapidly calculated everything. "This is going to be a nightmare. If the Augments held in that facility have done nothing, then they are effectively innocent hostages. Regardless of their ability to do magic, if magic is enhancing them, then they fall under wizarding rule according to Amendment 53 sub-article x of the Galry Law. We can't allow them to continue in this vein."

Amelia gave a sharp nod. "Agreed, but there are several factors we must examine before we go rushing into saving them. One, there are at least a couple hundred frozen Augmented embryos. Two, the Phase III Augments have been reared for warfare. They will have more than just social problems. I can't believe that only two phases removed from the first had all of the aggression and violence issues fixed. I fully expect they will be sociopaths at best and savage brutes at worst. Intelligent killing machines. We cannot release that onto the population."

Kingsley's mouth tightened as he silently acknowledged her claim. "Perhaps safe houses, then. We'll have our best Healers and Mentalists examine them and make plans based on those reports. We have limited time before the next sale is scheduled and so anything more in-depth is going to have to wait. This is going to be black ops, Granger. I can't afford anybody getting wind of this and crucifying the Augments simply because Voldemort backed their birth. If it leaked that Voldemort created the perfect soldiers, panic would set in and we'd have riots."

Hermione sat up straighter and turned her attention to Amelia. It wasn't often that she was actually in the field these days-only on the most covert and likely dangerous missions was she sent. An ephemeral thought drifted through her mind that she could relate to the Augments somewhat; she often felt that the person she was today had been born and reared in war.

"Retrieve all the Phase III Augments. Make certain that the facility is destroyed and any muggles involved are inside when it is. I want the wizards brought straight to Amelia for interrogation. We need to know everything about Chrysalis if we are to have a chance at stopping this from getting very bad very soon."

"And the embryos?" Hermione asked, studying a blueprint of the compound that Amelia unrolled on the desk.

"Do what you can to secure them as well. The best we can do is keep them in stasis until the rest of the matter is solved. As far as I'm concerned, they are unborn children caught in a situation that should never have occurred."

Amelia passed her a couple more files. "This is everything we have on them. Your portkey leaves tomorrow night at seven and takes you a half mile north of the compound."

"What are we telling the Albanian authorities?"

Kingsley snorted. "As far as they're concerned, that facility doesn't even exist. They can't question what is going to happen there without opening a large can of worms they cannot afford right now. If the United Nations knew of this, they would be facing serious repercussions."

Running a hand through her hair, Hermione pushed aside her own feelings on the matter and buckled down to save yet another group of people who Voldemort had destroyed.

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Hermione peered down at the compound from her position in the ruins of what must have once been a watchtower. She'd catalogued all the comings and goings for two days and meticulously studied the wards. Week and neglected, they were less an obstacle than a spider web to her. Lips pursing, she nodded to herself and vanished her conjured binoculars before casting a patronus.

The playful spell bounded around her, eager to be of use. Wasting no time, she informed Amelia that she was moving and then sent the otter off with the message. Blowing out a centering breath, Hermione turned back to the building and made her way down undetected.

When she was in range of the room she had targeted, she carefully and precisely vanished several blocks of the outside wall. Having created enough room, she conjured ten Otters and wove several spells into their fur. That done, she sent them into the room. Soon, they were returning with large cases filled with the cryogized Augmented embryos.

As the last case cleared the wall-all of the alarms and security rendered null with the spells she cast on the animals-Hermione carefully stacked the cases together. As the Otters scrambled on top, she briefly touched her wand to one's head and then watched as they disappeared. Restoring the wall to its former state, she turned her attention to the harder part of the plan. There had been no way for them to discover just how many Augments besides the embryos were actually on site. They speculated anywhere from twenty to forty, but could be as many as a hundred if more embryos had been birthed since Phase III's first group reached their teens.

Biting her lip, Hermione conjured fifteen sleek Wolves and wove more intense spells into them. By the end of the ordeal, she was sweating from the effort. Breathing deeply to steady her nerves and center herself, she checked her magic levels. Drained, but still in good shape. As long as she didn't have to fight the Augments on top of the whack-jobs that ran the place, she should be fine.

Clenching her wand, she motioned to the Wolves and murmured strict instructions to them. When she'd let her magic wash over the embryos, she'd been able to confirm her theory that her magic would be able to sense the latent magic in them. As she had suspected, they were sentient, magical beings and that made her doubly determined to get them the Hell out of this prison and prove that not all magicals were like Voldemort.

Her Wolves entered the compound silently, Hermione following closely. One of them snarled and leapt around the corner, landing on one of the scientists. Instantly, the man was stunned, courtesy of the spell woven into the Wolf's pelt.

Nose flaring in agitation, Hermione waved her wand and double checked that he wasn't a wizard. Confirming him muggle, she bound him and disillusioned him before shoving him over to the side. Thus, she made her way through the facility, her Wolves stunning anyone in her path. She found the lead scientist's computer and cautiously halted her Wolves. Luckily, floppy disks seemed to have no adverse reaction to magic and so she downloaded everything on Project Chrysalis into a handful of disks that she'd brought.

Blowing out a breath, she motioned for her Wolves as she once more took up her search. Finally, she came to the Augments' living quarters. Deciding to forgo the subtle path, she blasted open the door and immediately stunned the occupant. She was a young girl, barely into her teens. Scowling in rage at the sight, Hermione tapped the girl's shirt and sent her portkeying back to Amelia. Systematically, she worked her way through the wing, becoming more and more furious at the overall injustice she was finding.

That emotion was perhaps what fueled her spell when she blew a hole in the last door and eyed the occupant. Unlike the others, he didn't cower away or flinch. Instead, he shifted to face her, his stance obviously confrontational and alert.

But, he held his attack.

Amber eyes narrowed as they met ice blue and magic coiled between them. He couldn't wield it, but that didn't mean this man wasn't powerful. She could practically taste the latent magic on him and it called to her own in a way that completely unnerved her. The hairs on her arms stood on end as each of them studied the other.

High cheekbones and precise, dark hair paired with solid muscles gave the man a commanding appearance. He also couldn't have been much older than she. Shaking herself almost visibly, Hermione mentally pulled herself back to the task at hand.

"I've got five minutes until this building goes 'boom'," she stated, her mask concealing her face and head, while a spell altered her voice. "You want to stay or come with me?"

Blinking, he straightened. "I certainly do not wish to remain here."

Nodding, she stepped back and motioned for him to exit in front of her. He did, and then tensed when he saw the Wolves. Hermione smiled, knowing he wouldn't see it.

"They're mine. Move it, superman, unless you want to find out how fire proof you are," she drawled, passing him and jogging towards the exit, her Wolves surrounding her.

He kept pace with her easily, which she expected, and didn't try to make a break for it when they were clear of the building-which she had not expected. The only hiccup in their break for freedom came when the last scientist careened around the corner.

Hermione had a shield raised in a heartbeat as she spotted the wand in his hand.

"You bitch!" he screamed, firing off another spell as her Wolves lunged at him.

"Alive, my darlings," she called to the spell-beasts as the wizard's screams took on a decidedly different nature.

The stunning spells had worn off of their pelts, but the dark wizard was still no match for them. Hermione whistled to direct the Wolves aside and then crushed the unconscious man's wand under her boot.

"Clumsy me," she taunted, moving her wand and levitating the cretin. Glancing back and seeing a pensive expression on the Augment's face, she shrugged. "Still coming?"

"Should that have dissuaded me?" he drawled with an arched brow.

Chuckling, she turned towards the three wizards bound and propped up against a tree. All of them were cursing and loudly demanding to be released. A lazy swish of her wand and the half-dead wizard at her side landed with the group.

"Shut up," she snarled, kicking the loudest complainer in the stomach. "You're a waste of my time and talent, you worthless, inbred bigot. If we didn't need your information, I'd have killed you with the rest of your ignorant cohorts."

"Do you know who we are!" the balding one screeched. "When my family hears about this…"

Narrowing her eyes, she leveled her wand at him and silenced his rant. "That's the beauty of this operation: they won't hear about this. Nobody is going to hear about this."

A cruel, unrelenting emotion unfurled in her gaze and her voice held an edge of malice death eaters had come to fear.

"You're just going to disappear."

And then, she flicked her wrist, sending them all to the holding cells Amelia had waiting.

"Bastard," she spat, before turning to the man standing in quiet observation.

"Who are you?" he asked, his brows furrowed as he tried to understand what he'd just seen. "What are you?"

"You can call me Agent Copper," she stated. "However, technically speaking, I'm not here."

The facility exploded with a near-deafening sound, but neither person glanced its way. Hermione tipped her head to the side, studying the Augment just as closely as he was her.

"As to the what…well, I'm a witch. Fancy traveling abroad?" she asked, holding out her free hand and wiggling her fingers to him in invitation.

He didn't say anything for long minutes, but she never wavered in her stare or her silent offer. Finally, he seemed to relax and tentatively slid his palm over hers. "Your explosion was two minutes late," he informed her.

Throwing back her head, she laughed. "I hope you didn't have a large supper," she replied instead of disputing his claim, "because this is really going to suck."

And then they were pulled away.

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The Augment landed on his feet, disoriented and vaguely sick, but aware enough to know that he was some place completely different.

"Agent Copper, Director Bones requested this be made available to you when you arrive," he heard a clipped voice state.

Glancing to his side, he saw that the woman who'd rescued him was sliding up her mask just enough to expose her mouth. Plucking a vial from the tray the greying man was carrying, she uncorked it and sniffed it cautiously before downing the contents. She repeated the procedure with three more.

"Thanks, Reg," she muttered, sliding her mask back into place.

Amber eyes bordering on gold swung to his. "I have to say I'm impressed. I knew that you were biologically superior to muggles, but you didn't even stumble. Most people lose his or her last meal after his or her first portkey trip-especially one covering that great a distance."

"As you say, I am superior," he replied, filing away her strange slang.

Laughing, she waved away the other man when he made to step between them. "That's vaguely insulting, Reginald," she admonished. "I just took out a den of snakes and you think that the man I did it for is going to attack me? You think I couldn't take him if he did?"

The older man's face tightened as he tried to draw himself up to intimidating proportions. "I've heard things, ma'am. It's not right, sending you by yourself like that. Reports say the Augments are twice as strong as a muggle and much more aggressive. Rabid, they are."

A chill filled the air as the woman's jovial demeanor plummeted into the same as when she was breaking the scientist's ribs with her boot. Sliding around until she could look into Reginald's eyes, she cut off his view of the Augment.

Vaguely, the younger man wondered if this was supposed to be as amusing as he was finding it. He had no idea where he was, no idea how he came to be there, and no idea who the woman was that had saved him. She was a good foot shorter than he and yet, he knew without a shadow of a doubt she was extremely dangerous. He'd known her all of twenty minutes; how the Hell had the other man lived with being as stupid as he obviously was-provoking her like that?

"You know less than nothing, Reginald," she growled lowly, "and I don't answer to you. The man you called 'rabid' has been exponentially more courteous than you have and has managed to not piss me off by insulting things of which he is ignorant. Now, I'm sure you didn't mean to sound like a chauvinistic zealot so if you don't want to find yourself assigned to clean-up rotations the rest of the quarter, you will keep your lips sealed and not inflict your presence on me for the foreseeable future."

Snapping to attention, Reginald nodded jerkily and stuttered out an apology before scampering out of the room with his tray.

Huffing, the woman directed her attention back the remaining man. "I apologize for that. He had no right to say it, but we've just come through a war and anything remotely connected to the fallen enemy is panic inducing. What's your name, anyway?"

Arching a brow, he stood with his hands loosely behind his back, his entire bearing radiating an assurance of his innate superiority. "Khan Singh," he replied, a slight tip of his head angled at her respectfully.

If there was one thing he knew, Khan knew power and he had a feeling he'd just met someone he definitely wanted as an ally.

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He was bustled away shortly after that; the mysterious Agent Copper disappearing as soon as he'd been passed off to people she called 'Healers'.

"Your friends and other Augments are safe," the blonde Healer told him, waving some kind of odd stick over his body. "Agent Copper retrieved all of you from the facility."

Some of the tension went out of his muscles at that relieving information. "And the embryos?"

"Safe and being held in stasis," she replied, her eyes soft and kind. "You're very lucky, you know. Copper is brilliant; I doubt anyone else could have gotten all of you out without some kind of sacrifice."

"Why?"

Pulling back, she smiled in reassurance. "Why did we act to pull you out? Because you and all of the Augments don't deserve the fate that was given to you. You belong in our world and…oh, it's a very long story."

Pulling out a book from her pocket, she handed it to him. "Copper assures me that you are extremely intelligent. I would like to do a few more tests, just to be certain I haven't missed anything with your altered biology. When I'm done, a Mentalist…a mind healer, if you will…is going to make certain that those fools haven't tampered with you up there. This book is the recent history of the wizarding world-our world. It should give you a firmer base and we'll go from there."

Gratefully accepting it, Khan mused over the tentative feeling growing inside him. It felt almost like hope.

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Kingsley sat at the round table where two exhausted witches were waiting. Pouring a glass of wine, he took a healthy drink and then sighed heavily.

"This is a nightmare," he grunted, his mind going back to Hermione's first assessment of the situation. "Thirteen Augments already entrenched in various parts of the world."

Hermione nodded and poked at her fish as she tried to hold her eyes open. The toll for using so much magic was finally catching up with her.

"The Healer stated that all of the Augments were physically in peak health, but the Mentalist was another story. He found extensive attempts at memory alteration and subliminal coercion. Spells used and out-right life trauma has severely stunted many of the Augments emotionally. Some of the more extreme cases will struggle with it the rest of their lives."

"And how are they taking us?" Amelia inquired, pushing her plate away.

Stifling a yawn, the other witch shrugged. "The mediwitches did their exams while their patients were kept asleep. Khan's the only one who's been awake."

Kingsley's eyes jerked to her at that reminder. "Yes, care to explain why you left the most dangerous one conscious?"

Scowling, she followed Amelia's example and shoved her uneaten food aside. "Because he is the most dangerous, that's why. He's going to be the one they automatically look to for guidance. If he saw who helped him and has been witness to how we've treated the Augments since, then he is more likely to be amendable to us. We need him on our side! We need the Augments to want to be healed and integrate into our world. If they don't, then we'll be faced with a choice I would really not care to face," she snarled.

"Let them go or execute them," Amelia nodded in understanding. "Like it or not, they fall under wizarding law and are classified as sentient magical beings. If they go rogue, they could very well expose us all."

Hermione pointed to her in agreement. "Exactly. The Augments will see us executing their brethren and inevitably turn their penchant for battle on the wizarding world. The muggles will go into mass hysteria because the Augments will no doubt break the Statute of Secrecy and will take up arms against both outside sections. The Augments will retaliate on the muggles and soon enough we'll be fighting a global war against everyone."

"Fuck," Kingsley blew out on a harsh exhale. "And with the Augment's abilities and muggle technology, we'd have a devil of a time stopping either." Placing his fork on the table, he waved his hand. "Let's make sure we don't have to cross that bridge, then. We need to make certain the Augments know they are welcome and that all we want from them is compliance with our laws."

Amelia and Hermione smiled tiredly. "Yes. We'll start tomorrow. Copper, speak to Khan about bringing the other Augments out of their state of suspension. Also, anything he can tell us about Chrysalis would be greatly appreciated. Merlin help us if more than one of those facilities existed."

"I dropped off the facility's disks at my contact's office after I left Khan," she nodded. "I'll get the info he's managed to glean from them tomorrow and then speak to Khan."

As the three stood and made their way toward the fireplace, on the other side of the door, Khan frowned in concentration. He'd followed a strange impulse until he reached a rather plain door that would not allow him passage. Low voices drew his attention and with his superior hearing, he eavesdropped on an obviously important discussion.

The talk of executing his people made rage rise in him, but he tempered it until the conversation was over. When he heard that those were last-resort contingency plans, his anger drained and that almost uncomfortable feeling of hope bloomed once more. These people didn't actually seek to use the Augments for anything. It was bizarre to him, and yet, he found himself relaxing at the thought. Maybe…just maybe, his people could finally be free.

"Khan!" The friendly elderly blonde Healer admonished from down the hall. "I've been looking for you everywhere."

"I wished to see more of where I am being held," he stated without inflection.

Blue eyes were soft and motherly as she tsked at him. "Plenty of time for that later, child. You've endured quite a bit of trauma to your mind and Mentalist Stacy has ordered you rest after he worked on you earlier."

"I do not require a normal human's amount of sleep," he informed her.

"Humor me," she deadpanned, and tugged him after her.

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