Hi, my name is... Nick Fury
Being the man with his finger on the button is not always the gig it's cracked up to be.
Most days, Fury missed being in the field. He missed the rush of battle and the absolute clarity of an adrenaline-fueled moment. But someone had to lead those that were still young enough to get thrown around like rag dolls, and he was the one chosen to do it. Moving up the ranks had been a breeze for him, maybe because of his natural charm, but more likely because he was blunt and would accept nothing less than his men's best.
Building SHIELD had felt like his greatest achievement, working with legends like Howard Stark. Unfortunately, like so many good intentions, it had become merely a paving stone to Hell. When they had developed SHIELD, they understood that it could not be under the purview of any one country – that country would be too powerful, and great power often led to great stupidity, the kind that kills – and in answer to that, they had developed a relationship with the UN.
As it turned out, working with the UN still meant a lot of ass-kissing; that was the worst part of his job. He found himself too often pandering to the suits safe in their dimly-lit chambers of power, an infuriating process that cost time and, often, lives. They somehow forgot that Fury had extensive field experience, a sterling military record, and the stubbornness of an ox. Of course, all of the tactical genius in the world held but a flickering match to the bright shimmer or money, which was the native tongue of the bureaucrats.
Fury wasn't against playing dirty, though, which is why he had slipped the words "Avengers initiative" casually into conversation with Tony Stark. It hadn't been approved; it probably would never be approved, but Fury had a gut feeling, and he never ignored those. Oh, sure, he had later scolded the Iron Man, implied that he was no longer considered, but too often people forgot that Fury was the leader of a covert organization for a reason. One did not create super-secret government entities without being able to, oh, keep a secret or play a hand close to the chest.
The Avengers hand he had played like a necklace, bluffing on all fronts. The possibilities were endless, too great to pass up just because some bureaucrats were too short-sighted to see the benefit of the initiative. Part of being a leader meant knowing how to pull a person's strings, play them like a marionette, so that they did what you wanted even if they didn't know that they did. Yes, the Avengers initiative was what was best for the planet, but Fury was a soldier, not a philanthropist. He was not one to ask politely and wait; that wasn't why he had been chosen to lead SHIELD.
Of course, it meant an ass reaming later, probably a few extra sessions of pandering to the screens, but he was willing to take it. Fury was a soldier, not a bureaucrat, and that had served him well for more years than he would care to, or was at liberty to discuss. What was it Stark had said? "He's the spy; his secrets have secrets."
Oh, don't they just.
For instance, no one ever asked exactly what the button does.
A/N: Fury was surprisingly difficult to write. Probably because he's a master spy...
