Hey again! Sooo... this chapter is very important for the story, I think, because one of my favourite characters gets a bit of attention here, and also you get to meet the security council, and of course you will - but I can't tell you that. Heh.

This is a bit of a Fury-character-study for me as well.

Fury marched through the corridor. There were doors to the left and windows to the right, but he went through none of those doors. Every door was protected by two soldiers in their laughable suits that didn't offer the least protection.

Had he looked out of the windows, he would have seen the beautiful park shining green in the sunlight. For late summer or the beginning of autumn, the weather sure was exceptionally good.

But he didn't look out of the windows. Director Fury was not a sentimental man, he was a man on a mission. His jaw was set, and, even if he probably didn't even noticed it, he had scared the men that had welcomed him at the airport with his icy silence. The woman accompanying him, Virginia Potts, Co-CEO of Stark Industries, had tried small talk, but, getting no answers from the men or Fury, she had silenced.

Now, she was three steps behind him, together with the five agents that had come with the Director as well. She was struggling to keep up with his pace.

Without looking back, he knew that she was clutching the files in her arm tightly. Her high heels were loud in the empty corridor, and the agents, as well as Fury in his heavy combat boots, were making very little noise.

Any unknowing witness would feel like he was breaking every law in the United States by simply standing in Fury's way. The Director's coat was flowing behind him, his look was determined and he was leaning slightly forward, hands fisted. He was intimidating, and that was his intention.

The two soldiers guarding the two-winged door at the end of the corridor had jumped to attention the second they had been aware of Fury's presence. The door was opened, and the Director marched in. It was a conference room, more modern than the rest of the building. In the middle was a large table, white, with steel legs. Not exactly Fury's style. Around the table where chairs, four already occupied. The three men and one woman looked lost in the big room.

The agents positioned themselves at strategic points. The whole building was under complete observation, and they were all connected to Fury.

"Is this really necessary, director?", the woman spoke up.

Ignoring the question, he sat down at the far end of the table. He could see anyone who walked through the door. Next to him, the woman that had come with him took a chair.

He looked around. There were eight people still missing.

"Where is the president?", he asked.

"He has been delayed.", came the answer from a short, wiry man with a grey buzz cut. Everything about him screamed that he was from the army. He was new in the council, probably replacing Goodwell who had passed away shortly after the Manhattan incident. Rumor said Goodwell had been poisioned. The man in his place now was Everglades. A very good soldier in Fury's opinion. A man he could work with. A man who would see what the rest of the council never saw. General Bradley Demian Everglades, if he wasn't mistaken.

Everglades pronouced the 'delayed' as if it had been something of minor importance. It probably was, the president was known to not see threats were they were.

"He is in a meeting about green energy with the british Prime Minister.", Weaving said. He was the youngest of the men, being two years younger than Fury. Weaving was one of those idiots who followed the president blindly. His father had known the president since they had grown up together, and that was the only reason for Weaving sitting here now and earning a generous amount of money each year for sitting there, doing nothing and being stupid.

The woman was originally from the Netherlands. She had her own, very strong will and often enough she was against the president and would usually get him to support her opinion, weren't it for Fury.

Her name was Bonnie Willow.

The other two men, Towlers and Sander, were a bit like Weaving, even if not that stupid. But they were bureaucrats of the worst kind. Fury didn't like either one of them.

To get what he wanted, he would have to count on Everglades.

They waited in silence for the president.

About half an hour later, the doors opened to reveal the president and seven of his ministers or whatever they were.

"Ah, Director Fury.", the president nodded. "Glad to see you were able to arrive in time."

"I was five minutes to early and waited exactly thirty-two minutes.", he answered.

"I am sorry, but I was hold up."

"A meeting with the Prime Minister from England, I heard. About green energy."

"That is true."

"I am sorry, Mr President, but this is a meeting about national security, if I am not mistaken." Fury eyed the president reproachful.

"Gentlemen!", Bonnie Willow reminded them. "Could we begin?"

They all sat down.

"Director Fury, you are here because of the abduction of two men named - " Willow glanced down on her files to appear to be searching for the names. In his head, Fury allowed himself to get unprofessional and use some of the words he heard SHIELD agents using, for that woman.

"Because of the abduction of Captain Steven Grant Rogers, also known as Captain America, and Mr Anthony Edward Stark, also known as Iron Man.", Fury cut in.

"Thank you, Director.", Willow said with the hint of a fake thankful smile. Her whole appearance screamed sarcasm.

"What news do you have for us, Director?", the president asked.

And Fury started explaining.

Five hours later, he had ignored more than twenty more or less subtle hints for breaks. He had explained over and over again that, yes, Rogers and Stark were still alive – he had to delve deep into psychology and explain and explain. He had explained why the two of them were so important. He had explained what Miss Potts had started when she had recruited the SHIELD agents to research the matter on her own. Miss Potts had explained the research, had explained what they had found so far. They had to call on a lawyer to make sure she hadn't broken any laws with her research.

And then, all of a sudden, the president had wanted her to leave, because apparently, this meeting was going too deep into national security, and an ordinary citizen could not be present during this. Also the agents had to go outside.

So, Fury had went on on his own. There had been PowerPoint-Presentations, calculations, specialists from SHIELD had been there.

And finally, when it was six hours since they had started the meeting, they accepted Fury's request for a SHIELD-led research.

"Director, if we are going to approve this, we have to make sure you have the right men doing it.", Everglades said. The man had been on Fury's side during the whole meeting. And Fury had decided weren't Everglades a politician by sitting in this council, he would have to buy him a drink at least.

"I do have the men.", he answered.

"And what about the man who will supervise the project?", Willow asked. "This - " Again she consulted her files. "This Mr Birmingham the president spoke about earlier, he seems to be a very good man, and - "

"Excuse me, Mrs Willow. I think I do have the best man to do this.", Fury cut in, annoyed.

"The best?", the president echoed.

"The very best.", the Director answered, looking the other man straight in the eye.

"Excuse me, but I am new. Which man do you mean?", Everglades asked.

Fury searched through his files and finally held one up. "This man.", he said and slid the profile over to Everglades. It was one single paper and didn't contain much: a photograph of the man, the name, the missions he had been at. Every successful mission was marked with a big X. Only three missions did not have an X. The page had printing not only on the front, but also on the back. There were the seventy-eight major mission together with a very brief descripition written, as well as the names of the more than twohundred smaller ones. At the end of the file there was a remark written by hand: For information on the 56 unlisted activities, please consult Director Fury.

Everglades nodded. "I have read this man's file. He has been working for SHIELD for more than fifteen years now, hasn't he? Those fifty-six unlisted activities are labelled Top Secret, right? I thought he had retired?"

"During his last mission he was injured so badly that I did not dare to bring him back on duty yet. He is currently killing time in California, but I wanted to fly him back to New York City, since he is not very happy with having nothing to do except the occasional paperwork-consultancy.", Fury explained. "When he was well enough to have visitors, I offered him the chance to retire, since he has been working faithfully for SHIELD for years. He said the day he left SHIELD, he would either be having dementia or it would be in a coffin."

The profile had been passed to the president who looked at it for a very long time. Finally, he put the paper down and shook his head.

"Director, this is about national security. I cannot let a man I have never seen before deal with this. He may be your very best agent, but I want to speak with him."

"I expected that. Therefore, I took the liberty to bring him here, he is waiting outside."

"Then bring him in.", Willow said.

Fury got up and opened one half of the door. He stepped outside and saw that his man had been brought a comfortable chair. He was facing the park outside, with sun on his face.

"Agent.", Fury said, catching his attention.

The man turned around.

"Director Fury.", he answered.

"The council wants to speak with you.", Fury said.

The man slowly got up, obviously filled with pain. The Director offered him an arm which he gladly took. He straightened his tie and struggled for a more straight walk.

They slowly went back inside, and Fury suddenly smelled how stale the air had become in the meeting room. It was dark, since they had the curtains closed.

Behind him, the door was shut. Every eye from the council was now on the agent, who had to fight pain in his back and moved even slower.

Finally, they had reached the end of the table, and Fury helped his man sit down to his right. And for the first time in this meeting, he reached for the coffe and poured a cup which he offered the agent. The man gladly accepted.

He knew he was being eyed and still took his time to take a sip of coffee. It was still hot and the quality was way better than at SHIELD.

The president leaned towards one of his ministers. "He can barely walk and Fury wants to have him supervising a mission of that importance?", he murmured.

"I heard that, and yes, he is the only man I would want in this place.", Fury said sharply. "I would like to remind you that this is not a field mission."

Willow looked up from the file that had now passed to her and stared at the agent. "I want to see a medical record."

Fury, prepared for everything, gave her one. She read through it, and made a small noise every now and then. After a while, she let the paper fall and leaned back.

"Director, this is ridiculous.", she said. "You cannot let a man who is on that many pain killers and other drugs deal with national security. I can't and I won't allow this."

Fury went on to verbally abuse her in his head. "And I will not let you put Birmingham as a supervisor for my team."

"Your team?", she shot back. "SHIELD is financed by the government."

"And we have done a good job so far. We have had dealings of national security before and in the end you always agreed with my actions. And now, we are dealing with the biggest breach in national security, the biggest danger to national security since the founding of SHIELD, and you want to have an bureaucratic, dim-witted, big-headed, incompetent idiot dealing with it while you could have the very best of the best in the entire world!", Fury jumped to his feet, no longer able to contain himself.

This led to almost everyone in the council jumping to their feet and a round of shouting at each other ensued.

Fury was more angry than he had ever been in his whole life. And he told this everybody who did and didn't want to listen. They were so far as insulting each other, when the agent, who had not said a word yet and remained in his chair to drink his coffee, got up, slowly, painfully. He held up both hands and tried to say something. Everglades was the first to notice, and, one after one, the men calmed down.

"Gentlemen, lady", the agent nodded towards Willow. "Please sit back down and let me say something as well."

Slowly, the other men sat down, breathing heavily.

"Thank you.", the agent said. "I can understand Mrs Willow very well. I do take very many medicaments at the moment, and these might prevent me from making the right decisions."

Fury opened his mouth to say something.

"Please, Nick, let me speak. However, I have been working on very many abductions already, and I am also very acquainted with the superhero group known as the 'Avengers'. Since this is about the Avengers as well, you might appreciate it if I would be on the project. Also, I did not come here unprepared. I have read everyting SHIELD gathered about this project. Still, I can clearly see why you would not want me as a supervisor. Therefore, I present you an alternative: I would be a consultant, and for the job of a supervisor I have already found a person that would be more than perfect."

Fury decided to trust his agent fully. He saw Everglades nodding slightly, as well as some of the ministers. The president and Willow didn't seem to be too averse to this plan.

"Who would this person be?", Everglades asked.

Fury had wondered this as well. The agent knew everybody at SHIELD, and he surely was going to take one of them. Hill? Probably not. She was not as experienced. But if that was his agent's choice... it would be a good one. Fury would be able to control everything, and Willow would pick any female candidate. She was extremely sexist. So... what if the agent picked Romanov? She would definitely be a strange choice, but Fury had to admit it would be a good one.

The agent handed him a flash drive. "Director, if you would be so kind."

When Fury had been appointed director of SHIELD, he had only been acquainted with the technology SHIELD used. His SHIELD-given apartment had the same technology. On his first security council meeting, he had been confronted with the stone-aged technology the rest of the world used. But, luckily, that had been many years ago, and now he knew how to operate the latest MacBook Air that was attached to a projector. Therefore, he did not make a fool of himself as he inserted the flash drive. When connected, a file was projected to the big screen.

"Due to her qualification as well as the fact that she has already dealt with these people many times, I think that Agent Romanov would be the very best choice.", the agent said.

Silently, Fury cheered, something he hadn't done since he had been in High School and his football team had won.

Willow furrowed her brow for no more than three seconds. "Yes.", she said. "I think Agent Romanov really is the best choice here."

Everglades nodded."Yeah, good idea."

Fury gave his thumbs-up as well, and then every gaze lingered on the president.

"Well", the man said, sighing. "If that is the will of the council, we should follow it."

Just don't get re-elected next time., Fury thought.

"I want a weekly update of what is happening.", the president added. "And a personal talk with Agent Romanov... although, no, that is not necessary and not even possible. I am flying to Italy tomorrow."

He started stacking his files. Finally, he got up. "Gentlemen, lady: It has been a pleasure."

And with these words, he was out of the doors, his ministers, Weaving, Towlers and Sander following. Fury was left with Everglades and Willow.

The woman glanced at her watch. "Yes, I have to go as well. I hope this affair ends without further damage."

And she was gone.

"Well", Everglades nodded. "That was quite a performace, Director."

"It was necessary.", Fury said.

"Most definitely, yes."

"So, General Everglades... this looks like you are not the regular person attending meetings like these."

"What do you mean by that, Director?"

"I mean that you, quite different from most officials I dealt with, are really interested in the state and not only your own profit. Am I right?"

"You may not remember me, Nick, but we went to High School together. We were sitting next to each other in most classes, we were in the same Football team."

Fury frowned. "Are you telling me you are Brad Sorning? Captain of the school's best Football team?"

"I am. I simply married."

Fury stared at him in surprise.

The short silence was interrupted by Everglades: "Nick, I would like to do more than just reading your weekly reports on the mission."

"You want in?", Fury asked.

"Yes. If Agent Romanov allows it."

Fury nodded slowly. "She will."

*~This is the edited version of the story. It contains minor changes but does not change the general happenings.~*