Author's Note
And I'm back!
Today is a special day. You don't understand it yet, but you will. :)
This chapter has the return of someone we haven't seen for a while. If you've seen Winter Soldier, I'm sure you know just based on that chapter title. But if you haven't, well...you're in for a treat. ;)
Go onward and enjoy!
Can't Kill You If You're Dead
Ari feels like shuffling her feet like a little kid when they rejoin the others. She...was a brat. Especially to Sideswipe. They were just trying to help and she snapped when she shouldn't have. It was uncalled for.
She expects them to be mad at her, or at least peeved, but her dad just gives her a big hug and Sideswipe gently caresses her along their bond along the edges of her guilt.
"Sorry I overreacted like that," she mumbles, snuggling into Will's embrace but addressing everyone. "I...I shouldn't have yelled like that."
"It's okay, sweetspark," Sideswipe says, picking her up when Will let's her go. He tucks a finger under her chin, lifting her face up when she's reluctant to meet his optics. There's no anger there, just a soft forgiveness she doesn't feel she deserves. "It's okay. I know you're just scared. We all are."
"That doesn't make what I did right. I shouldn't have taken it out on all of you. I'm sorry."
"There's nothing to forgive, Ari," Steve says, filled to bursting with sincerity like only Captain America can. "It's...what's going on is bad. But we can still stop it. If we work together."
"Right," she nods, taking a deep, centering breath before releasing it slowly. "So do we have a plan?"
"Not yet," Phil says, meticulously taking off the body armor he "borrowed" from KSI until he's down to a standard black t-shirt and pants that must be some sort of underarmor. He looks weird not wearing his black suit and tie. The only part of his usual uniform he's wearing is his stoic mask. "But we do have a destination."
"Where are we headed, then?"
"Back to DC, to meet up with someone who should be able to help. Or, at least, help us stop Hydra."
"Who are we even going after anymore anyway?" Darcy asks, folding her arms in front of her chest nervously. "I mean, Hydra, Megatron, Lockdown. They're all trying to do bad stuff. Who do we stop first?"
"Lockdown is out of the picture now, correct?" Natasha says, pointing her question towards Optimus.
"He was only after me and he did not notice us leave," Optimus nods. "He should be out of our hair. For now. He is bound to notice I am missing eventually, and then I have no doubt he will return."
"Right, so we don't have to worry about Lockdown for a while," Ari says. "That just leaves Hydra and Megatron."
"We found out what Hydra's planning," Clint says, stripping out of his armor as well. "When Phil and I snuck into KSI."
"They have this algorithm," Phil continues, pulling a duffle bag out of...somewhere. He opens it up, tossing Clint's Hawkeye uniform to him and pulling out a suit for himself. "It's generated a list of people they want killed based on information taken from social media, employee files, secure networks, everywhere. The algorithm determines if these people are threats to Hydra, whether presently or sometime in the future. Hydra's going to give that list to the Transformers for elimination."
"The perfect assassins," Ari mutters, thinking of those missions Galloway tried to get the Autobots on, the ones that sounded like assassinations. She always suspected Galloway wanted the Autobots to do them because of their ability to blend in and disappear without a trace.
Looks like she was right. And now he has his own army of assassins to control. They'll be able to take over the country—frag, probably even the entire world—in just a few hours. A world stomped under Hydra's boot.
"And let's not forget good ol' Megatron," Lina says, shifting atop Sunstreaker's shoulder with ease, like she's been doing it for years. "He's got to have plans of his own. He tricked Hydra into giving him a new body. What else could he have tricked them into doing?"
"I don't know about tricking," Ari says, running her thumb along her bottom lip in thought, "but he wants the Transformers. He wants to turn them into his new army. If he doesn't already have a way to control them, then that's what he's doing right now. Looking for a way."
"Then where are they?" Will asks, looking at Phil and Clint. "And when are they going to be ready?"
"Don't know," Phil shrugs. "We weren't able to find out while we were there. We don't even know how many Hydra's managed to build already. But we're heading for someone who may know."
"Who?"
"The same guy who sent Phil and me to KSI," Clint replies vaguely with a crooked smile. The ship jerks beneath them, landing on the ground, and he holds up his handful of clothes. "You guys head out and see for yourselves while Phil and I change. Don't worry, there're only friendlies out there."
The gangplank lowers at the back of the ship and they all exchange nervous glances. None of them are really in the mood for more surprises, but it's not like Clint and Phil would lead them into a trap. Plus, mischievousness rolls off of Clint in waves. It can't be that bad.
Then again, this is Clint.
"Come on, guys," Natasha says, walking down the gangplank with ease and confidence. "You're thinking too much."
"Do you know who's here?" John asks, everyone following sedately along behind her.
"No, because Clint likes his jokes and surprises, but he's my husband. Whatever this is, it's a good surprise."
"Yeah, or you're in on it," Tony grumbles, but they head for the abandoned dam they've landed next to.
They're in the outskirts of DC, in the middle of the woods along a dried-up river. Everything smells dry and crisp out here, like Halloween stories in the middle of fall. This river hasn't flowed for a long time, the water being rerouted somewhere further upstream, making this dam completely useless now.
A good place to hide. Or a good place for a trap. But Natasha's right, Clint wouldn't do that. It's just been a long day and Ari struggles to leave the uneasiness behind.
They go in through the service entrance, the Autobots using their holoforms to stay with them. Ari's spine tightens the further down the concrete hallway they walk, teeth grinding with the trepidation itching at the back of her skull. The flickering fluorescent lights and smell of musky dampness remind her of something and it takes her a moment to place it.
The Sector Seven base beneath Hoover Dam.
Her hand unconsciously reaches for Sideswipe's, threading their fingers together to keep him close. This place reminds her of the night Sideswipe was taken and tortured, and it'll be over her dead body if that happens again.
Sideswipe squeezes her hand, sending her reassurance and reminding her that nothing like that is going to happen this time, that Clint and Phil would only take them to a safe place. The memories don't leave her alone, though, making her see specters in the shadows.
This better be a fragging good surprise.
Clint and Phil catch up to them by the time they reach the end of the hallway, Clint jogging forward to pull a plastic tarp out of the way to reveal the next room.
It's concrete like everything else, empty of whatever equipment it used to hold that operated the dam. Now it holds hospital equipment, grouped around a bed.
And lying in that bed is a very much alive Nick Fury. He's bandaged and banged up and looks like he's been through a meat grinder. But he's very much alive.
Ari blinks a few times but, yep, that's Nick. Alive. Not dead.
"About time," he grouses, like a toddler finally getting out of time out. A doctor fusses around him, checking his blood pressure, and Nick uses his one good eye to level the man with a glare.
Yeah, that's really Nick. And he's alive.
She has the sudden urge to sit down. Lina actually does sit down, mouth gaping as she stammers out, "Bu…But you died! You got shot right in front of me!"
"Guess it didn't take. But I did get a lacerated spinal column, cracked sternum, shattered collarbone, perforated liver, and one giant headache."
"Don't forget your collapsed lung," the doctor adds in sternly, and Ari can already imagine Fury hasn't been a very good patient. Probably trying to get out of that bed and back to work despite the list of injuries that all could have killed him.
"Oh, let's not forget that." His eye rolls in exasperation. "Otherwise, I'm good."
"You have a funny definition of what's good," Rob says, shaking his head.
"Why all the secrecy?" Steve asks, sounding as hurt and frustrated as all of them feel. Nick is a friend and he lied to them. He let them think he's been dead for days. "Why not just tell us?"
"Any attempt on the director's life had to look successful," Phil explains.
"Can't kill you if you're already dead," Fury sighs, staring up at the ceiling as the doctor finishes up and leaves the room. "Besides, I wasn't sure who to trust."
"You really thought you couldn't trust us?" Ari asks, fists clenching at her sides. She cried for him. She blamed herself for him being…gone. But he's not. A part of her—a fragging big part—is so relieved, but then there's the burning pit in her stomach that feels a lot like betrayal. "Seriously, Nick? After everything?"
His eye lands heavily on her, filled with exhaustion and grief. "When's the last time you spoke to the rest of N.E.S.T.?"
Ari's mouth snaps shut and she averts her eyes, gnawing guilt replacing the fire. She should have checked in with the rest of N.E.S.T. ages ago, given them updates and orders. But she's left them in the dark.
Because any of them could be Hydra. She knows the Autobots aren't, and Optimus has kept them quietly up-to-date about what's going on, but the humans...
"That's what I thought," Fury says. "I'm sorry. Truly, I am. But I had to be sure."
"And are you now?"
"I am. I'm also sure of what it is they're planning."
"Phil and Clint filled us in," Steve says grimly. "They plan on using the Transformers they've made to take out the competition."
"And they plan on doing it tomorrow," Fury adds, sending them all into shocked silence. "All of you finding out and that little display at KSI forced Hydra to up their timetable."
"But I thought they didn't have that many Transformers yet," Sideswipe says, desperately pulling at straws. "That's what we overheard at KSI."
"They don't have as many as they'd like, but they still have a couple dozen already made. I'd say that's plenty to take out all the major players. If they do it quietly enough—which these Transformers are more than capable of doing—then they might not even need more."
"They'll probably make more anyway just for kicks and giggles," Tony snarks, pacing away before turning on Fury. "Seriously, Nicky, why did you wait so long? You could have come to me—to any of us—ages ago with this."
"I had to be sure," Fury grinds out again. "And I had to be careful. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s very existence is fragile. One wrong move could ruin the organization for good."
"Fine by me," Jane says, lifting her chin defiantly. "It should all come down."
His eye narrows at her dangerously. "S.H.I.E.L.D. had nothing to do with this."
"S.H.I.E.L.D. has everything to do with it," Bucky speaks up. He pushes away from the wall he was leaning against, moving to the end of Fury's bed so the director can get a good look at him. If he's surprised that Steve's best friend—and his attempted murderer—is here, he doesn't show it. "Your organization is compromised. Hydra's been growing right under your nose and you didn't even notice."
"Why do you think we're meeting in this cave? Why do you think I had Ms. Spitz look into it in the first place? I noticed."
"And how many paid the price before you did?" Steve asks, stepping shoulder to shoulder with Bucky, like they must have done before on the battlefield.
Except this isn't a battlefield, this is a conversation between friends, and Ari steps in before the bloodbath can begin. "Guys, we've all made mistakes here, but blaming each other or ourselves isn't going to help."
"We still can't let S.H.I.E.L.D. carry on after this," Jane insists, standing just as stubbornly on Bucky's other side with Darcy right next to her. "It's like with infected tissue. The damage has spread too far. Amputation is the only way to go. We have to get rid of all of it."
Fury practically growls at her, "Over my dead body."
"It's the only way. Hydra has to be brought to light, and the only way to expose them is to expose S.H.I.E.L.D. as well. People need to know that Hydra exists, who's all a part of it, and what they've been doing."
"And how do you suggest we do that?"
"By leaking the entire S.H.I.E.L.D. network onto the web," Lina says, rising to her feet and sounding like she's thought a lot about this already. Though revealing secrets no one wants told is what she does best. "All of the personnel files, mission reports, all of it. Reveal all of the secrets so what Hydra has hidden inside can be rooted out."
"Fine," Fury agrees, though reluctantly. "I admit, that would get rid of Hydra rather effectively, but we could still salvage something of S.H.I.E.L.D. from it."
"We can't risk it," Steve says firmly, crossing his arms in front of his chest with that disappointed look Bucky was talking about. And it is really bad. "Hydra could still be in the rubble and then the whole thing would start over again. Everything has to go. Everything."
"But we could-"
"No," Jane stomps over to his side, taking no pity in Fury and his injuries. She's practically shaking with the power of her anger, brimming out of her eyes like starlight. "Do you have any idea what could have happened? The kind of danger we were all put in? S.H.I.E.L.D. stole my research back in New Mexico, when Thor first fell. They had it and Hydra could have copied it. And I've been sharing things with you thugs, against my better judgment, ever since I started staying in New York. Because Coulson and Thor asked me to."
She holds up her hand inches from Fury's face, thumb and forefinger just centimeters apart. "I'm close, this close, to figuring out the Einstein-Rosen Bridge. I'll probably be able to construct a working Bifrost within the year. That's interplanetary travel like that." She snaps her fingers together, actually making Fury blink and pull his face away. "How far behind me do you think Hydra is, huh? Are they working on their own Bifrost right now? And these guys have no idea what the rest of the Nine Realms is like. They could end up connecting with Jotunheim for all we know, and then what would happen? The Frost Giants don't exactly like us right now—no offence, Loki."
"None taken," Loki sneers, glaring ice daggers at Fury's helpless form. "She is right. If Hydra had made it to Jotunheim or any other hostile realm, it would have been catastrophic for all of Midgard. We should be extremely grateful Hydra was discovered before it was too late."
Fury and Ari both flinch. That would have been a right mess, making her wish yet again that she had caught all of this sooner.
But she takes in a deep breath and lets it out slowly, pushing the guilt away. There's nothing she can do about that now. But she can make things better for the future.
"They're right, Nick," Ari says gently, stepping up to the bed to take the hand of his uninjured arm. "We can't risk Hydra again, or anyone else like them. It all has to go. S.H.I.E.L.D., the World Security Council. We need to wipe the slate completely clean."
"And then what?" Fury mutters, staring up at the ceiling in defeat, a crumpled and broken man. "We can't just leave the world undefended. Despite everything, we still did a lot of good. We prevented a lot of evil in the world."
She squeezes his hand. "We'll still protect the world, Nick. We're not backing down. Not the Autobots, not N.E.S.T., and not the Avengers either."
"So, what, you're just going to protect the whole world by yourselves? It's a big world."
"No, I know we can't do it alone, and I haven't figured all the details out yet. Except that, when all this is over, you're getting us an audience with the United Nations." His eye snaps over to her in shock and she smiles. "We won't leave you out of the loop, don't worry. Unless you want to retire or something, which you should probably at least consider. You can't do this for the rest of your life. But we need change, Nick, and we need to do it smart."
The corner of his mouth tips up into a small smile, a deep chuckle escaping him. "Change I can deal with. And I know you've got smart covered."
"You got that right," Tony quips.
"Wasn't talking about you, Stark," Fury throws back.
They all laugh, tension bleeding from the room, and Ari knows they'll be alright. No matter what happens, no matter what changes come or what the future brings, so long as they all stick together, they'll be alright.
They've dealt with things more impossible than this before.
"This is heartfelt and all," Loki interjects, breaking up their momentary happiness with bleak reality, "but there is still Megatron to deal with."
"Megatron?" Fury frowns. "I thought Megatron was dead?"
"Yeah, so did we," Ari mutters, pulling her hand away from his to rub tiredly at her eyes. "Looks like we were wrong."
They catch Fury up as quickly as they can, giving him the basics, which are basically Megatron is alive and he wants an army to kill everyone.
So, nothing new.
"He'll be headed for the Triskelion then," Fury says, wincing as he tries to find a more comfortable position on the bed. "That's where the main factory for the Transformers is. Galloway had an entire subbasement built for it without my knowledge."
"Then that's where we need to go," Steve says with a decisive nod. "If we're lucky, we'll be able to kill two birds with one stone—take out Hydra and stop Megatron."
"Alright," Darcy grins. "Let's move it, people. We've got a world to save."
Author's Note
Yay, Nick isn't dead! He didn't die in the movie, either, but I know some of you don't really know the MCU. It's been very hard keeping a lid on it. But it's a nice surprise, right?
Speaking of surprises, I have another one for you.
Are you ready?
I finished writing When You Fall!
It's been such a crazy adventure, but I finally finished getting it all down. And the final editing is done, so do you know what that means?
Chapter 1 of 6 posted today.
Hope you enjoyed, PLEASE REVIEW, and see you all next time! (Which will be in a few minutes)