Chapter 21: Project Insight

Back in Washington D.C., Zoe was more than thankful to be home, but there was always that feeling on her shoulders that she'd be out again, and she knew it was going to have to be soon. She wanted to try and prolong her assignment as much as she could, but that would probably be impossible since she knew how these men worked inside and out. A frown made its way to her lips. This is what she signed up for after all. But she wasn't sure if she was ready even with all her training, and studying at the academy, she still felt icky about her current predicament. She often wondered how Romanoff could be so cool, calm, and collective in the Widow's own situations. It would be nice for once that Zoe didn't have to feel so conflicted with her drowning emotions.

But at least for now, she was home. She was within the comforting walls of her headquarters.

She walked down the halls of S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters passing other agents and members of the agency as she headed straight for Director Fury's office. Since she'd been home, she'd been contemplating on quitting her beloved job for the last two years. She didn't think she could hold herself together. Rumlow's comment had pissed her off in a big way, because the more she thought about it, the more he may be right. How could she continue being an agent if she continued to suck in a situation like that?

Romanoff could kill anyone far more easily and swiftly within seconds and still get the job done. Meanwhile Zoe could only kill so many and still get captured like a shitty damsel in distress that she desperately wanted to stray away from. Maybe going undercover wasn't such a good idea after all. And by quitting S.H.I.E.L.D. she thought that would be the only way to get out.

She pushed the door open, not even asking politely to get in the door. She didn't want to wait for Fury to finish whatever he was finishing. She'd made up her mind. The paper in her hands, along with the envelope that said it all. She was quitting. She may have loved S.H.I.E.L.D. but she was no spy. She could not do this. She couldn't fulfill Agent Coulson's dream. She couldn't even keep track of Banner right now let alone keeping track of villains like Bartac. She'd tried to tell herself that it wasn't her fault and that Sitwell had a hand in it, making her look like the fool in front of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s launch ship, but she still felt guilty. There was too much going on in her head that she just wanted it to stop. And she figured the only way to end it was to quit. Someone else could find Intel for Fury.

"Sir, I want to hand in my two weeks notice," Zoe said, clearing her throat to get his attention. Director Fury turned his chair around from the window, and arched an eyebrow at her.

"I'll call you back," he said, pressing the button on his earpiece. He looked at her shaking hands. In her hands was a white envelope and a piece of paper typed and ready to send into his company.

"I can't do this anymore," she said.

She pushed the envelope and the letter further toward him, and folded her hands across her abdomen. Director Fury glanced up and down at her state of condition. Out of all the agents he'd ever encountered this one proved to be most promising, and here she wanted to quit in the middle of it all when they were so close?

"I'm going to disincline, Agent Sawyer," Director Fury said.

"Um," she said slowly, glancing at Fury with a questionable look on her face. "You can't do that. Can you do that?"

"I'm disinclining because that man out there already knows who you are, and I cannot provide protection detail already more than what S.H.I.E.L.D. can offer you." Director Fury said.

Zoe tightened her jaw, and ran a hand through her ponytail. "You don't get it, sir. You don't understand what he wants me to do. I can't," her throat tightened at the very thought of it. "I just can't do what he wants me to do. You just don't understand," she shook her head, lowering her eyes to the floor. She'd tightened her fists with all her anger and mixed feelings inside of her that felt like they were going to burst. She'd tried to hold herself together for so long, but she felt like she was going to have a meltdown at any moment. Zoe forced the tears back as far as she could. She was not going to cry in front of her boss. She was tougher than that. She took a deep breath, and let it out, forcing her bottled up emotions to relax.

Director Fury studied Zoe for a brief moment in silence. Zoe glanced around the room, feeling slightly awkward as he looked at her through his one eye.

"I understand plenty, Zoe," he said calmly. "And I understand that you can do the job. You're my eyes and ears, girl. I need you."

"So if I quit, I basically die?" Zoe asked with a small frown.

"Only if you want to die," Fury said. "By all means. Hydra won't hesitate, Zoe, I chose you years ago because you can be an actress, among other things that you studied at the academy. That's your job here. I know you're fighting skills are a little bit lackluster and on the rusty side, but we have trained agents who can train with you and get better."

Zoe sighed. "I'll never be as good as you want me to be," she said softly, looking down at the floor. "I'll never be Natasha."

"No one can be Agent Romanoff, but Agent Romanoff, just like no one can be Agent Sawyer. You're skills will improve, I promise you that. And I know that with your current assignment, you can do it."

"Why?" she asked, as her eyes flicking up from the floor to Fury's eye.

"Because I have faith in you," he said sincerely. "Don't tell anyone else that. I'm supposed to be a hard-ass."

She couldn't help but lift the corners of her mouth into a smile and giggle because the feels in her heart grew warm like a father telling her daughter that he secretly loved her for who she was. Zoe never got to hear those words that a father was supposed to say to their children from her father, and Fury always felt like the father she never had. "Mum's the word," she said.

Director Fury nodded, and took her letter, folded it into a crisp half piece of paper before he tossed it in the trash. He put the envelope into his drawer. "If you're so concerned with your lack of fighting skills, why don't you spar a little with Rogers? I'm sure he wouldn't mind."

Zoe widened her eyes. "Steve," she cleared her throat. "Cap? Um…well, he's like a super soldier, and I'm, well, not…what about Agent Hill?"

"Agent Hill is currently on leave," Director Furry said. "Train with Rogers. He knows tactics of fighting in sticky situations better than anyone I know. He's also very smart."

She sighed. "Is that an order?" she asked.

He remained silent, giving her a silent glare with his one eye. She winced, taking that as a nonchalant yes.

"You just can't stop yourself from lying," Steve said suddenly, barging into Director Fury's office.

"Speaking of the devil," Director Fury said, twisting in his chair. Zoe's eyes glanced over at Steve and closed her mouth shut. He turned to face her before he turned back to Director Fury.

"Agent Romanoff had a different mission than yours," Director Fury said.

"Which you didn't feel oblige to share," Steve said.

"I'm not obliged to do anything," Director Fury said.

"Look, those hostages could have died in there," Steve said. Zoe didn't miss the serious tone in his voice, and that made her feel even guiltier. She was supposed to protect the vessel, but that didn't go very well as planned.

"I'm afrai-" she began but Director Fury cut her off.

"I sent the greatest soldier in history to make sure that didn't happen," Director Fury said.

Steve glanced from Zoe to Director Fury. "Soldiers trust each other. That's what makes it an army. Not a bunch of guys running around shooting guns."

Zoe bit her bottom lip, listening to Steve. He had a point, but so did Fury if he wanted to get two things accomplished that night: kill two birds with one stone.

She was going to step out of the office, feeling that she wasn't supposed to be here. She turned to quietly step out, but Fury stopped her with a steely voice that sent chills up and down her spine.

"Sawyer, I did not say you were dismissed," he said.

Zoe froze and spun back around on the heel of her boot and gulped. Steve cast a sideways glance at her curiously and then looked at Director Fury.

"Last time I trusted someone, I lost an eye," Director Fury said, standing up to meet Steve, face to face. "Look, I didn't want you doing anything that you weren't comfortable with. Agent Romanoff is comfortable with everything."

"I can't lead a mission when the people I'm leading have missions of their own," Steve said.

"It's called compartmentalization. Nobody spills the secrets, because nobody knows them all."

"Except you," Steve said in a clipped tone of voice.

Zoe could feel the room grow thick with tension between the two as they tried to remain calm with each other's opinions spewing about from their testosterone mouths.

"Can I go now?" Zoe asked tentatively. She cleared her throat when both men turned to face her. "Sir…Cap?" she really felt like this was a concerning manner between leaders, and not exactly regular employees like herself.

"Why don't you stick around, Sawyer? Maybe a little knowledge will shed a little light on your current assignment so you're not so totally in the dark," Director Fury said.

Zoe twisted her mouth slightly and remained silent as the grave.

"You're wrong about me," Director Fury said, once the silence settled in like dust. Zoe and Steve looked up from the floor, and stared into his one eye. "I do share. I'm nice like that. Follow me," he said.

Steve and Zoe turned slightly so that Director Fury could get up and out of his chair. He started to walk out of his office and down the quiet hallway of S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters.

"Got another side-assignment for you, Rogers," Director Fury said as they walked down the hallway. Zoe and Steve walked side by side behind him, and looked at one another before they stared ahead of them.

"You two are going to be partners," Director Fury said.

Steve arched an eyebrow. "Partners?"

"She needs a little more training on her fighting skills," Director Fury saw the widened eyes in her look and her open mouth like she was going to protest, but he stopped her. "That's one of the reasons why I had her assigned to Agent Barton in the first place before the whole thing blew up in our faces. He's a skilled fighter, in the arts of swords, and archery. You're skilled in combat, fighting tactics, battle techniques, and the like, something that Sawyer sorely needs training on. Think of him as your personal trainer."

"I'm really not sure that's going to be a good idea, Director," Zoe said, shaking her head. "He might crush me."

Steve listened to Director Fury's words, and looked down at Zoe, who turned pink with guilt and embarrassment."Yeah, she's a little bit hobbit-sized," he said, glancing at her with a wry grin on his face. Zoe eyed him with a wry look back. "I'm really busy I got a lot of stuff to do-" Steve said.

"This is an order," Director Fury said as they entered the elevator.

"Of course it is," Zoe muttered to herself.

They made their way toward the elevator, and the silver doors slid open. Director Fury entered first. "Insight bay," he said.

Steve came in second as the computer screen spoke to Director Fury, while Zoe followed.

"Captain Rogers and Agent Sawyer does not have clearance for Project Insight," she said.

"Director Fury, Nicolas James, override," Fury demanded, and leaned back against the silver bar that stretched across the glass elevator. Zoe and Steve stood on opposite sides quietly.

"Confirmed," the female voice said.

The elevator doors closed, and started to go down slowly. Zoe leaned against the back of the silver bar and curled her foot in front of the other, crossing her legs to relax.

"You know they used to play music," Steve said breaking the silence between the three of them.

"Yeah, my grandfather operated one of these things for forty years," Fury said. Zoe arched an eyebrow at the newfound info. "My granddad worked in a nice building. Got good tips. He'd walk home every night, roll of ones stuffed in a lunch bag; he'd say hi, people would say hi back," he glanced at Steve, and then at Zoe. "Time went on, the neighborhood got rougher. He'd say hi, they'd say 'keep on stepping', My dad got to gripping that lunch bag a little tighter," he said.

"Smart man," Zoe said quietly, crossing her arms over her chest.

Fury smiled very subtly at her.

"Did he ever get mugged?" Steve asked.

Fury let out a small laugh, "Every now and then some punk would say, 'what's in the bag?'"

"What'd he do?" Steve asked.

"He'd show him," Fury replied. "Bunch of crumpled ones. And a loaded twenty-two magnum."

Fury smirked at Zoe and Steve's looks on their faces as he stepped away from the railing. "My granddad loved people. But he didn't trust them very much," he said, glancing slightly at Zoe.

Zoe chewed her bottom lip. Well, that was why she couldn't go on with her assignment. She tried to get out of it, but Fury wouldn't let her.

Her mouth dropped to the floor when the skies of blue turned to shades of gray and weapons galore on Insight Bay. Holy Shit. She thought. What in the hell was Project Insight?

"Uh, Fury, are we planning to go to war anytime soon?" Zoe asked, making Fury chuckle lightly at her words as she stepped closer next to Steve beside the window.

"Yeah I know. They're a little bit bigger than a twenty-two,' Fury replied.

"A little bit?" Zoe asked.

Across the facility bay that stretched for miles on end were three huge Hellicarriers with weapons pointed up toward the ceilings that made army tanks look like scared little ants. She could see Quinjets, and jets of all kinds hanging from cable wires, lowering onto the decks of Hellicarriers. It made Zoe wonder if Coulson or Hill knew about Project Insight and failed to share with her. Of course she didn't blame them. They were on different levels than she was.

She drew in a short breath as if she'd been holding one the entire ride down to Insight Bay.

They started to walk down the walkway that stretched inside throughout the facility, flanked between rows of Hellicarriers, as Director Fury continued to tell them about Project Insight. "This is Project insight. Three next generation Hellicarriers sent to a network of targeting satellites."

Zoe was quite impressed by it as she tried to keep up with Director Fury and Steve. She made her way on the other side of Director Fury, unable to tear her eyes away from the beauty of the gray colored war machines that were bigger than her, bigger than the Hulk if that were even possible! Workers in orange colored shirts and grey shirts worked together to put everything they had into this project. How long was Fury working on this? Did he seriously just say three generations?

"Launch preliminary in stock," Steve said.

"Once they get in the air, they never need to come down," Director Fury said. Fury's words drowned in her ears as she continued to be in awe with the Hellicarriers as she walked passed them. They were just so beautiful and she wondered what they were going to use them for, of course she could only assume they were for bigger things like the Hulk. An ill feeling swept inside her. But they already knew that the Hulk wasn't evil and Banner was trying to control him so…that didn't make sense at all. What else would they use them for?

She decided she ought to listen to her director as he explained their capabilities, and uses.

"Our new repulser engines," Fury finished.

"Stark?" Steve asked. They walked right underneath one.

"Ah, he had a few suggestions when he got an up close look at our turbines." Fury replied.

Zoe looked up at the bottom of the engine and smiled. Good. Hopefully no Hellicarriers will fall in the sky like last time.

"These new long range precision guns can eliminate a thousand hostiles a minute. The satellites can read a terrorist's DNA before he steps outside his spider hole. We gonna neutralize a lot of threats before they even happen," Fury explained candidly and with hope in his heart.

It sounded very idealistic to Zoe's ears, and promising, but frowned when a scary thought occurred to her. "There goes my job," she joked.

Fury chuckled. "You'll still have a place with us, providing," Director Fury said next to her as they turned on the bridge, and Zoe leaned against the bar, gripping it tight within her fingers.

"I thought the punishment usually came after the crime," Steve said.

"We can't afford to wait that long," Director Fury said.

"Who's we?" Steve asked.

"After New York, I convinced the World Security Council we needed a quantum surgeon threat analysis. For once we're way ahead of the curve."

"By holding everyone at gunpoint on Earth and calling it protection?" Steve said.

Zoe could hear the uncertainty written in his voice and it broke her heart that he couldn't understand how wonderful this all sounded, at least to her, even though she could sense the concern a little in his voice.

"You don't have any idea what's out there, Steve," Zoe said. "This could save a lot of lives."

Steve turned to face her. "You know the last person that said that had an evil agenda because he was so distraught with his despair he grew to gain revenge. This sounds like revenge to me."

Zoe swallowed hard, releasing her hands from the railing, and glared at him. She tightened her fists by her sides, ready to punch him. He didn't know. She lost her mother to God knows what, and she lost her father to Hydra. He didn't know what it was like to loose someone he cared about.

"You don't get it," Zoe said. "You don't get it because you never lost someone," she snapped, letting her anger get the better of her.

Steve was taken aback by that. She was so wrong. So wrong. He'd lost many people he cared about. He was about to yell back at her but Fury stepped in before the fight ensued and got worse.

"You know, I read those SSR files," Fury interjected. "Greatest generation? You guys did some nasty stuff."

"Yeah, we compromised," Steve said, turning back to Fury. "Sometimes in ways that made us not so sleep so well. But we did it so people could be free. This isn't freedom, this is fear."

"Oh boo-hoo, so you didn't get to sleep, Rogers," Zoe said acidily, unable to stop herself from talking. "Big freaking deal. Tell that to those who died and got left in the dust. Think you can be so free now?"

Steve frowned at her. "You know what Sawyer…"

"Cannit, Sawyer, Rogers," Fury said, glaring at the two. "Take it in the gym when you spar later for training." Once Zoe and Steve calmed down a bit, Fury continued on with his reasoning. "S.H.I.E.L.D. takes the world as it is, not as we'd like it to be. And it's getting damn near past time for you to get the program, Cap."

"Don't hold your breath," Steve warned, facing Fury, nose to nose.

Fury smirked. "Tell that to Agent Sawyer," he pointed at Zoe as she'd walked away, unable to hear anymore of this strange nonsense spewing between men, or boys as they seemed to act like. Both had good intentions, but one of them pissed her off entirely, and she needed a punching bag, or coffee. Either one would do the trick to calm her sudden anger down of the loss of her mother that slithered its way back into her heart.