NICK FURY'S AVENGERS-PART 1-OUTLIERS
James Buchanan Barnes was in his element. He had the names of people to stalk, an updated passport and a full livery of ammunition.
Barnes was one of Fury's very first hires. At the outset, Fury needed to find people, and in most cases, those people didn't want to be found. Nobody could track the missing like Bucky Barnes. As an added bonus, Fury actually let him cap a couple once he found them.
The gig worked like this: Fury would send an encrypted name to Barnes via PDA. Each name would be mapped to one of two succinct follow up instructions: "REPORT LOCATION" or "ELIMINATE" .Barnes would grab any lead he could find. Often Google Search gave him what he needed. Sometimes he had to hack Government files for information. The U.S. Government's, someone else's, it didn't matter to Bucky. Everything he could get his hands on was in play. Next came the fun part: the physical manhunt. Bucky had been to places in the world that everyone has heard of, and that no one has heard of. He had stalked demi-gods, mutants, cold-blooded killers, skid row bums, and high profile political and religious figures.
All of the "REPORT LOCATION" targets were super heroes, or former superheroes. Many of the "ELIMINATE" ones were not.
In fact, if you read in the paper that a country in South America or the Middle East was undergoing major political upheaval due to the sudden death of their leader, chances are very good that Bucky Barnes had been there recently.
He did get a chance to off the occasional meta-human though. Moon Knight was his favorite so far.
Bucky learned very quickly through covert observation that Marc Spector was every bit as talented and bloodthirsty as he himself was. And as an added bonus, he might have been crazier. Spector's multiple personality disorder made him a particular challenge to track down, and keep tracked. In the several weeks that Bucky spent finding him, losing him, then finding him again, a begrudging respect had grown. When the deal finally went down, and Barnes was standing over the asphyxiated corpse of Spector, he decided that the highest tribute he could pay to such an admirable target was to co-opt his identity.
Not that Bucky version of the Moon Knight was a carbon copy of Spector's, you understand. The cape got in the way of work, so it was left with Spector's body. The pure white of the costume was horrible for covert surveillance. Black would work much better. Spector was stripped, and the outfit would be replicated in the right tone later. But the mask and the hood were very cool. And the quarter-moon throwing stars were a nice addition to his arsenal.
Bucky made a rare verbal status report to Fury that night, informing him that the latest mission was accomplished and that he would be going by a new code name.
"I didn't just trade in one lunatic for another, did I, Barnes?" Fury sighed.
Bucky laughed. "No Nick…I'm still your guy. I just think the persona fits what I do. I haven't been Captain America's kid sidekick for a few decades, and I'm sure as hell not a soviet arm-breaker anymore either. This just symbolizes what I am now".
"Make sure that's the case. What you are now doesn't make me sleep any easier. I don't want ta have ta take you down too".
Bucky didn't know what Fury did with the people he had found with the "REPORT LOCATION" status, and he didn't really care. Most of these were easy-superheroes leave pretty visible trails. In one particularly busy week, he had tagged Tony Stark in Istanbul and Clint Barton travelling south though Utah. Easy money. Others on this list were tougher.
It took every computer resource Bucky had to pick up Logan's trail in Northwest Canada. From there, he spent weeks in small villages, standalone roadhouses and campgrounds interviewing people who may have seen him. He had aroused a fair amount of suspicion in this part of the world, where visitors are rare, and visitors asking questions were always bad news. He was physically and mentally exhausted when he sat on a rented snowmobile on a side street in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska preparing for visual confirmation of Logan's presence there. That's when the voices started.
Voices in Bucky's head were nothing new. Years of Communist brainwashing followed by more years of SHIELD deprogramming had left their scars on his psyche. But these voices were different. They belonged to real people.
The first one was female. "Stay away from this one, Barnes. He's not for you".
"Hunh?" For a moment, Bucky thought that the lack of sleep had finally gotten to him.
"Go to the next name on your list. Turn around. Go. Now."
"Who are you?'
"Doesn't matter. Leave Howlett alone. "
A second voice joined. Male, with a clipped, slightly European, highly articulate tone. "She's right, James. You are inviting trouble for you and SHIELD by being here. Leave immediately. And Emma, I'll thank you to do the same."
The female, in response to the second voice, "You used to be above this kind of petulance, Charles. Howlett won't join us any more than he will move to your little island paradise. I'm just making sure that his privacy is respected."
Bucky could feel Mr. Articulate sneer inside his head. "As if I had any reason to trust your intentions, Emma. When will you be done with stealing from me?"
The woman: "Mutants aren't inventory, Charles. Freedom of choice applies to us too".
"Alright already!" Bucky swore that all he had done was thought this, but his voice echoed off of the aluminum of the Quonset hut he had hidden behind. He held his breath and listened for signs that he had been overheard, then exhaled deeply to compose himself. Having gained the attention of both of the telepathic entities, he continued,
"If I go and never come back, could you two continue your debate somewhere else besides in my brain pan?"
Emma Frost, sitting in the lotus position on the living room floor of an artsy flat in San Francisco, responded, "You'll go anyway, Barnes. You're in over your head here, and I think you understand that now. If breaking this psychic link makes you start that snowmobile faster, I'm happy to accommodate".
Charles Xavier , in his study on the island of Genosha agreed, "I have very little interest in any of your activities that don't involve the Mutant Community, James. But rest assured that I reserve the right to visit you again if you continue to chase our kind. Feel free to share that with your superiors as well. You have made your peer Mr. Wilson's job as our Ambassador much more difficult."
Bucky had no idea what Xavier had meant by "your peer Mr. Wilson", but it was too late to ask questions.
Both Xavier and Frost were gone.
From Anchorage, Bucky filed the following encrypted text report to Fury two days later: "Evidence suggests Logan in Prudhoe Bay. Visual confirmation impossible. Mission incomplete. Feed me another name, Nick. This one's off-limits."
Sam Wilson was brought into the SHIELD fold at the same time as Barnes, but his assignment was almost the polar opposite.
Where Bucky worked in the shadows, unknown to anyone but Fury and to a lesser degree, Rogers, Wilson was highly visible. He had been appointed SHIELD's Mutant Affairs Liaison, with specific orders to be the face of Homo sapiens on the exclusively mutant island of Genosha. He was a diplomat, not an assassin.
Wilson himself was not a mutant, nor did he have a particularly high level of experience in dealing with human-mutant relations. Fury had a couple of compelling reasons for his appointment though.
First, although Wilson was a well-adjusted, upright, honest man, with membership in Captain America's "inner circle" as credentials, he bore a deep-rooted sensitivity to being a minority. This characteristic would be very helpful in establishing rapport with the "Big Three" of Genosha-Charles Xavier, Erik Lenshurr and Namor Mackenzie. Sam knew what it was like to be treated with exception because he was different.
Second, although he personally visited Genosha twice a month to offer aid, negotiate and generally try to establish some sort of loose partnership with the three, he didn't need to actually be on the island to keep tabs on how things were going there. He had his own network of spies to assist him with his Genosha Intel.
The birds.
Monitoring the island with a live-in contact was out. Too many ways to hide things, and risk of offending the inhabitants made this option not feasible. Given Xavier's gifts for telekinesis, electronic bugs and psychics were out too.
But that gently soaring flock of osprey that circled majestically around the island each morning saw everything. The mutant residents loved them, and some had actually taken to naming their favorites. They swooped over the growing community, perched on open window sills begging for handouts, and darted in and out of the natural caves found on the island.
Then they told Wilson everything that they saw.
Interpreting this information was where Sam truly shined. Birds do not have words for many things that human beings take for granted. So, "noisy, big…in big cave" may have been a generator to supply the burgeoning Genosha community with power-or it may have been some new weapon. Sam's gentle probing of the osprey helped clarify their messages.
His skills as a diplomat proved to be valuable as well. Through tough but fair and honest negotiation, Sam managed to secure steady supply lines to the Island from the U.S, in exchange for constant and current updates on who had recently moved to, or away from the island.
There was still a great deal of work to be done. Many of the island's inhabitants were considered to be International criminals. Lenshurr was a mystery all in himself. Traditionally, his ego drove him to grand displays of his power over magnetism. Yet, Sam saw no evidence of ether the ego or the power in his visits. Lenshurr still supported an agenda of complete takeover by Homo Superior, but his verbal participation was mostly in support of Mackenzie's more strident and aggressive rhetoric. Sam wondered if Lenshurr was in fact still a mutant-but that was entirely speculative.
Additionally, not every mutant in the world bought into the concept of Genosha. Sam knew from SHIELD files that a group of five of Xavier's former students were headquartered in San Francisco, and that their relationship with Xavier and his cohorts was strained. Others were scattered throughout the world. Fury was attempting to pin all them down, and undoubtedly, similar efforts were taking place on Genosha, in spite of the fact that this was never discussed.
Each smaller question of this nature was flavored by the decades of mistrust between humans and mutants. It was palatable on the island and in the States as well. The current peace was a tenuous one.
With this environment as a backdrop, Sam really wasn't surprised when Xavier contacted him to come to Genosha to "discuss matters of grave import" about a year after his regularly scheduled visits had begun.
No one from Genosha had ever proactively asked for Sam to make an appearance outside of his planned trips. He actually saw it as a sign of progress. It meant they were trusting him more, relying on him as a confidant. All of these optimistic thoughts vaporized when he sat down in Xavier's office on Genosha.
As always, Lenshurr and McKenzie were present. Although Xavier seemed to be the overall leader of the island contingent, he was never away from the other two that Sam had ever seen. They were his leadership team, his Chiefs of Staff. All of them were seated around Xavier's desk, wearing "business casual" rather than their more colorful costumes, and grave expressions.
"I'll be blunt, Mr. Wilson. Your organization is harassing mutants in various locations outside of Genosha, and we want it stopped immediately".
Sam was genuinely surprised. Fury had never told him about Barnes' presence as a SHIELD agent, or anything about the covert assignments the he was undertaking. By Fury's reasoning, it wasn't "need to know".
"Charles….Erik, Namor", Sam's eyes scanned the three of them; "I have been very honest with you in detailing my contact with other mutants. And I will once again assure you that beyond two trips to visit the five in San Francisco, I have not proactively sought out anyone. My focus, as I have stated many times, is here".
It was Xavier's turn to be surprised, although outwardly it registered only in an arched eyebrow. His tone softened. "Sam…we know it wasn't you. Your superior officer has sent at least one other out to hunt down some of our missing flock…for what purpose, we don't know. I had initially assumed that you were aware of this, but I now understand that you were not".
Sam had come to understand that the mild tingling in his hypothalamus when he was near Xavier signified that his mind was being probed.
"…having said that", Mackenzie broke in, "we would be very interested in knowing what you intend to do about it!" He shot a sideways glance at Xavier that contained a flickering of contempt.
Xavier returned the glance, and clasped his hands in front of his face. "Yes Sam, I agree with Namor. We understand that this is new information for you… but this cannot continue. All of us-and you especially-have worked very hard at….building a relationship here. Covert activities such as this do nothing but undermine that effort. Now that you are aware of the situation, what plan of action do you have?"
Sam studied each of the faces around the table. Mackenzie to the right, with a hard, piercing stare, arms folded across his chest. Lenshurr to the left, also with an unbroken gaze at Sam, but more of an expression of curiosity. Xavier, immediately across the table from Sam, with an expression that seemed to implore, rather than demand, a response.
"Well", Sam began, "I need to process this…the obvious first step will be to find out what I can from Fury. I don't think it's fair of you all to assume that there was bad intent in what happened. He may have just wanted to talk to the ones he was tracking. ..He may not have been tracking them at all; the agents may have been acting on their own…'
Namor snorted loudly. Sam was pretty sure it wasn't due to a respiratory problem.
Lenshurr spoke up, "We're not getting anywhere by ignoring facts. The agent that we know of was Bucky Barnes-of whom we are also aware, has quite a long resume' of …let's call it 'creative mayhem'. Charles found him in the same small village as one of our most powerful 'lost sheep'. If Barnes' intent was to eliminate this individual, Charles did him a tremendous favor by intervening. The man would have killed Barnes with minimal effort and even less compunction. "
Sam was in fact processing this-although it didn't show outwardly. Were the three of them lying? Was Fury lying? Who was the agent, and for that matter, his mark?
Xavier's voice was in his head. "Sam, we are presenting you the truth as we know it now. As you no doubt have sensed, Erik and Namor are very unhappy. Please say something. I might not be able to control them alone."
Sam nodded in acknowledgement of Xavier's telepathic plea. "Ok, I'm heading back to the States today. I'll do my best to get some answers from Fury, and present your position. But I do have one question", He directed this at Xavier, "If this is such a crisis, why don't you just have a little mental chat with Fury yourself?"
It was Mackenzie who responded, the words dripping with contempt, "Our resident peace-keeper thought it would send a 'bad message' ". He gestured at Xavier.
Xavier exhaled deeply. "Sam, we have a very loosely defined set of rules for engagement, you and I. I believe that it is important for you and your superiors to understand that we are playing by those rules. Please make certain that you and those you represent are as well".
Six hours later, Sam and Fury were reviewing the situation on a park bench next to the Potomac River. SHIELD Tech had revealed this as a bug-free area. The bench was far enough off of the main footpath that their conversation escaped the ears of the occasional passer-by.
"Yeah, Barnes has been doin' some scoutin' for me…and yeah, he apparently had an 'incident' in Alaska".
Sam pinched the bridge of his nose. "Who was he chasing...and why?"
"Logan. And no, his assignment wasn't ta kill him. Do ya think I've lost it completely, Wilson? Logan can't be killed, at least not with anything less than a nuke. "
"Sooo…?" Sam added an exaggerated shrug.
"Yer oversteppin', Wilson. Let Xavier an' his choirboys know that it won't happen again. That's what I have for ya."
The conflict was frustrating for Sam. When Fury said it wouldn't happen again, he could make bank on it. But Fury was hiding something. And that pissed Sam off.
"Nick, my job is hard enough. I need a little transparency here. What's going on?"
" Sam…I've…SHIELD's got irons in th' fire internationally that you couldn't even guess about. So many of 'em in fact, that sometimes I fuck something up…like the Logan deal. Let me worry about th' big picture, OK? You can send Xavier my assurances that known mutants will be let alone from here out. I'm jeopardizin' the progress of a couple other projects to make that compromise. Hope you and he both see th' win there".
They stared at each other grimly for several moments. Finally Sam sighed.
"They won't believe that you weren't trying to kill him. How do I respond to that?"
"Tell 'em that I wanted ta make him a SHIELD agent. 'Cause that's th' truth".
Sam's head tipped back in laughter. "Let's see if I got you figured out now. If you put all the crazies on your payroll, you won't have to go haul them in-is that the strategy?"
Fury guffawed, emitting a cloud of cigar smoke. "What, you don't think that'll work?"
Sam's grin melted into a more serious expression. "Look…I know you've got something else cooking here, and it's also pretty clear that you aren't gonna tell me what it is. OK, fine, you're the boss. I can sell the concept of Logan as a SHIELD agent, so that'll solve the current situation. But I've got no problem with letting you know that this whole thing makes me verrrry nervous, Nick. I feel like I'm working blindfolded."
Fury watched the sun set majestically over the Potomac. "We're in the spy business, Sam. Most of the time that means we all make big decisions blindfolded. If you've got reservations about that, mebee this isn't yer line o'work…"
Wilson stood up from the park bench. "Maybe not. Tell you what…if Charlie and his big, bad mutant tribunal blow up the Eastern Seaboard, feel free to can me on the spot."
Fury rose as well. "Could happen".
Sam shook his head earnestly. "Not on my watch".
"Back to Genosha with my humble apology, then?"
"Yep. I expect to be there a few days . Xavier will accept this. But, I'm at square one again with Lenshurr and Mackenzie. I may need to make some concessions that I hadn't planned on".
"I trust yer judgment on that Sam."
"Wish I trusted yours as much, Nick. I'll keep you posted." With that, Sam turned and walked into the lengthening shadows.
Fury remained, deep in thought. Sam would know soon enough why Fury hadn't been completely straight with him about Logan. That there would be a new Avengers, a team that Sam himself wasn't invited to join, but that Fury was combing the globe looking for others that were a better fit. That might be enough for Sam to quit on the spot. And then Nick would have to kill him. Fury wanted to put that off for as long as he possibly could.