THE TRISKELION S.H.I.E.L.D HEADQUARTERS: LAT: 38N 53' 33.78' | LONG" 77S 3' 38.91 "

"May told me you got shot?!" Buffy exclaims as she paces in her office in The Triskelion now out of her horrible wig and suit, however, she did have to be all businessy as she was in Buffy Stark mode right now as the weapons consultant, so stilettoes and a suit jacket was just as much torcher as her Avengers suit.

"We were gonna call, but Coulson said you were undercover with Captain America and..." Skye tries to explain as the two young women speak over face time but she could barely get a word in before Buffy cuts in "Your team is always almost dying Skye I swear!"
Skye snorts at that she had a fair point there, The Bus team did have a tendency to get into terrible trouble "I'm sorry. Next time I get shot I will call."

Buffy sighs before finally taking her seat again, it was weird she had only known Skye a few months but they had actually managed to build a good friendship, and to be honest the blonde needed friends, she forgot how nice it was to actually speak to another human being that wasn't on a mission wit her...or her dad. God, she needed to get a life outside of Stark and SHIELD.

Skye suddenly goes quiet catching the attention of the blonde as she seemingly glances around in a panic before sighing, Buffy knew something was off, Skye was never quiet; it was weird "Can you do some digging for me?"
Buffy frowns at that, Skye was like a world-class hacker couldn't she do that herself "Huh? Crazy Hacky girl say what?"

Skye shakes her head in amusement before checking her bunk again "They used this Alien drug to save me Buffy...and it was used to bring back Coulson. It was coming out of this creepy ass blue glowy alien. We're trying to find this Clairvoyant guy to get answers...but Fury ordered it. Can you find out what he knows?"

Buffy remains completely frozen in shock and merely stares at the other girl her mouth hanging open like a fish, vampires, demons she understood, and yes the battle in New York had been aliens but still...this was blue glowy things bringing someone back from the dead. This was insane! And more than anything she could have ever imagined.
She couldn't help but sigh as she runs a hand through her hair, how she missed the days of vampires and demons, life had been so simple then. After a long few moments of silence as she tried to figure out what the hell all of this meant she nods "I'll push Fury." She tells her before saying her goodbyes and hanging up.

As she does the blonde sighs and stares at the photo of her and May on her desk, she was starting to have a feeling from what Skye had just told her...that May knew more about this then she was letting on. Fury had briefed May personally before she joined The Bus, that Buffy knew...and if Fury was behind what happened to Coulson, then maybe May knew more then she claimed. But the only way to find that out was to talk to Fury...which meant she couldn't beat on him for not telling her and Steve about the real intent of their mission yesterday.

Ugh, why was her life so freaking complicated!

"You just can't stop yourself from lying can you?" Steve asks Fury as he walks straight into the Director's office followed behind quickly by Buffy who huffs in annoyance "Hey in heels here slow down!" She tells Steve before coming to stand behind him while Fury who was still sat at his desk smiles in amusement at the two of them "I didn't lie. Agent Romanoff had a different mission than yours."

Buffy frowns at that and couldn't help but cross her arms "Really...hmm cause I seem to remember it was me she tossed the flash drive at! I actually enjoy violence more than computer stuff contrary to what my Father's interviews in Vouge say!"
Fury glances in between the two blonde soldiers and merely shrugs at the Slayer's words "She requested a switch last minute."
Buffy frowns at that, what the hell did that even mean, why change up the mission last-minute "What does-" The blonde slowly cuts herself off as she spots Fury's amused look and that's when it hits her, this had to be some kind of joke!
"The pole!" She exclaims in disbelief "Seriously?"

"She said she had some good money in for the next 48 hours."

"Oh my god." The blonde scoffs before crossing her arms, Natasha did that just to get her alone with Steve because of that damn pole going around, this was getting ridiculous, what was the obsession with her love life! And how much could the prize actually have risen too?

Steve merely frowns in confusion, having no idea what the two of them were even talking about, to be fair though he did struggle to understand the Stark girl even on a good day "What?"
"Nevermind." The blonde huffs before turning back to Fury "We could have lost the hostages, Nick."

Fury sighs before turning to face the two powerful beings "I sent the greatest soldier in history and probably the greatest fighter on the planet in to make sure that didn't happen."

"Compliments will not get you out of this." Buffy warns him before a small smile does cross her lips "But thank you."
Steve who wasn't amused as easily as the blonde merely continues to glare at the Director in disgust "Soldiers trust each other. That's what makes it an army. Not a bunch of guys running around shooting guns."

At that Fury finally stands, leaning across the desk to look the Captain straight in the eye as he speaks "Last time I trusted someone, I lost an eye."

Buffy arches a brow at that and tilts her head slightly, she still had no idea how he lost his eye, but with all the seriousness around it...she had to admit she kind of hoped it happened in some hilarious kind of way. Maybe it was his cat. As she snorts at her own thought Fury clears his throat drawing the 25-year old's attention back to him "I'm never telling you." He tells her spotting her staring at his eyepatch.

As she pouts slightly looking more like her father than usual as she does he sighs and turns back to the old fashioned Captain "Look, I didn't want you doing anything you weren't comfortable with."
"So throwing a mission at Buffy last minute is fine?" Steve scoffs as he shakes his head in astonishment at the Director's words.
Fury arches a brow before shrugging "Romanoff thought she would be fine."
Buffy rolls her eyes at, of course, Natasha thought it would be okay, especially if it meant she won this freaking bet, but just because you throw two people in a room together in a high-pressure environment didn't mean they were going to jump each other right there. It's not like she and Steve were apes.

The blonde sighs as she gets back to the point at hand "I've done the whole not being told everything with The Initiative Fury. Our deal when you asked me to join SHIELD was full disclosure."
"Summers, you're known to have a blabbermouth of a father who constantly hacks into our security to find out what you are up to. I promised you, Disclosure. Not Tony Stark! Nobody spills the secrets because nobody knows them all."

Steve glances over at Buffy and he sighs spotting the annoyance on her face he knew she was getting sick of how much her father was intervening in everything in her life, especially her missions...and now because of this over-protective nature of his, she was not being trusted.

Sighing he turns back to Fury and shrugs "Except you."

Fury goes quiet for a brief moment before relaxing slightly and leaning back "You're wrong about me. I do share. I'm nice like that."
Buffy frowns slightly before raising her hand "When I was 18 you wouldn't share a pack of cookies that Coulson made you."

Fury frowns for a second thinking back to that day, before he sighs; she did have a point there "Well Coulson is a brilliant baker. And they were mine."

Buffy and Steve follow Fury into the elevator, as they enter Fury turns to the facial scanner on the wall "Insight Bay."
Buffy frowns and turns her head looking at the screen watching as Fury's face appears first, his access being granted before her face appears on screen, BUFFY STARK – LEVEL 9 – ACCESS GRANTED

"I'm allowed down there? Why didn't I know there was a down there to go?" She questions turning to Fury curiously making the Director sigh "Last time I showed you where all the good stuff was you destroyed everything."
Buffy opens her mouth to argue but couldn't help but wince, her first week at SHIELD hadn't exactly gone smoothly "Fair enough." Turning back to the screen she snorts as she spots Steve's face pop up on the screen before the words ACCESS DENIED filled the screen.

"Captain Rogers does not have clearance for Project Insight."

Buffy giggles and turns to Steve "Does that sting?" She teases making him smile and shake his head in amusement "You're hilarious." He tells her sarcastically making her smile brightly "Well duh."
As the two converse Fury turns back to the computer "Director override. Fury, Nicholas J."
"Confirmed."

With that, the doors finally close and the elevator begins to go down, as the three stand there Steve smiles slightly "You know, they used to play music."

"Yeah." Fury says with a small smile while Buffy frowns, "You're both so old."
Fury shakes his head in amusement before smiling as he thinks about his grandfather "My grandfather operated one of these things for 40 years. Grandad worked in a nice building. Got nice tips. He'd walk home every night, a roll of ones stuffed in his lunch bag. He'd say, Hi. People would say, Hi back. Time went on, the neighborhood got rougher. He'd say, Hi. They'd say, keep on stepping. Grandad got to gripping that lunch bag a little tighter."

Steve nods as he listens before tilting his head curiously "He ever get mugged?"

At that, both Steve and Buffy find themselves shocked as Fury of all people breaks out in laughter before he sighs "Every week some punk would say, What's in the bag?"
Buffy arches a brow "You're granddad was such a people person, were you adopted?"
When both Fury and Steve turn to her she shrugs "What it's a valid question, Fury not a people person."
Steve shakes his head in amusement before turning back to the Director, finding himself curious to find out more of the story "What would he do?"

"He'd show them." Fury tells them "Bunch of crumpled ones and a loaded .22 Magnum. Yeah, Grandad loved people. But he didn't trust them much."
"Starting to see that family resemblance." Buffy breaths as she finally spots what she assumed was this big secret Project Insight, and to say these things were a little bit bigger than a .22. was a complete understatement.

There were armed Helicarriers lined up along the floor, brand new Quinjets, and god knows what else, but she had never seen anything quite like it. Honestly, it kind of put Stark's old weapons tunnels to shame.
"This is Project Insight." Fury tells the two Avengers as he leads them through the underground bunker pointing out all of the projects they were currently working on "Three next-generation Helicarriers synced to a network of targeting satellites."

Buffy couldn't help but whistle as she walks alongside Steve; Fury slightly ahead of them, she had to admit she was impressed "Okay...I have no words. Well done. You've managed to make a Stark speechless."
Fury chuckles at her words before nodding "Once we get them in the air, they never need to come down. Continuous sub-orbital flight, courtesy of our new repulsor engines." At his words, Buffy's eyes widen and she turns to Fury tearing her eyes away from the engines on the Helicarriers "That's what the blueprints I drew were for?"
Fury nods "Most of your design we used. Your father made some minor adjustments especially after he got a up-close look at our old turbines."

"You mean when they almost turned my dad into grated cheese?" Buffy asks slightly annoyed at the way he swept that under the rug, it wasn't like her dad had a good time in the turbines.
Fury merely snorts at her words "Exactly." Ignoring the blonde's glare that he could feel on the back of his skull he gestures towards the new weapons lined across the Helicarriers "These new long-range precision guns can eliminate 1,000 hostiles a minute. The satellites can read a terrorist's DNA before he steps outside his spider hole." As Fury finally leads the three of them to a stop he turns to face the Soldier and The Slayer who were still staring at the machines in astonishment "We're gonna neutralize a lot of threats before they even happen."

Buffy clenches her jaw at that, while she understood the concept it went up her spin in a bad way, sometimes someone you think would be a threat turns out to be just who you need. Look at Faith, yes she did a horrible thing but she has done a lot of good since then.

"Things aren't always so black and white." Buffy argues turning to face the Director "There are grey spots, you know this more than anyone."
Steve couldn't help but nod in agreement with the blonde, this almost seemed wrong, while yes there were positives to it, it seemed premeditative "She's right. Plus doesn't punishment normally come after the crime."

Fury glances between the two heroes and sighs, he knew they would both struggle with this, they both liked to seem the good in people "We can't afford to wait that long."
"Who's we?" Steve couldn't help but ask in confusion, he hated this, he felt like Fury was keeping more from them...again.

Fury sighs and hesitantly glances at the blonde Slayer, a little unsure about whether or not to speak about this in front of her, New York had been one of the worst days of her life, she had almost lost her father and her best friend died saving them all, she had only really started acting like herself again, and after the way she acted in L.A after the witch's death, it was a subject he was warry to bring up. He couldn't risk her going rough like she had done for those months after New York. "After New York, I convinced the World Security Council we needed a quantum surge in threat analysis. For once, we're way ahead of the curve."
As he speaks Buffy winces slightly only to feel a small sense of relief as she feels Steve reach behind her entangling his hand with hers and giving it a small squeeze.
The blonde turns and smiles softly at him and squeezes his hand back, he knew probably more than anyone how far she had come since all of that, hell he had been the one dealing with most of her nightmares and guilt. And after she held that Asgardian weapon a few weeks back it had just made all those memories come back like fresh and new. It's why this small gesture meant so much to her.

After a moment she pulls back and turns to Fury shaking her head slightly "It feels a bit...like if I steal something of yours do I get shot to the moon and back?"
Fury shakes his head in amusement "It's not like that Stark."

Steve sighs and shakes his head in disagreement he didn't like this, it just felt wrong everything about it "You're holding a gun to everyone on Earth and calling it protection."
Fury goes quiet for a moment before turning his focus solely onto the solider "You know, I read those SSR files. Greatest Generation? You guys did some nasty stuff."
Steve clenches his jaw at the Director's words because as much as he hated it, it was true, his generation hadn't exactly been angels back in his day "Yeah, we compromised. Sometimes in ways that made us not sleep so well. But we did it so that people could be free. This isn't freedom. This is fear."

At the soldier's words Fury steps forward trying to make him see a modern way, to him Steve was still too stuck in the old ways "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 with that program, Cap."
At his words, Buffy arches a brow and couldn't help but scoff "Take as it is?" She asks slightly amused, where had this attitude been when she had been fighting on a Hellmouth for 7 years! "You're so focused on threats from the sky you spent seven years ignoring the Hellmouth."

"We weren't equipped to handle that kind of situation then Stark." Fury argues while Buffy shakes her head in disbelief, he could put a target on everyone but Sunnydale...not once had SHIELD ever tried to step in and help. Not once. "I'm sure that's what you told my dad the day he buried me right?" She asks before shaking her head.

Turning around she and Steve begin to head for the exit, however as they move she halts and turns back to Fury "We need to have a talk later. Alone."

Fury frowns in confusion, he rarely had a meeting with Buffy alone, she and Steve were normally attached by a hip or someone who cared about her was always lurking mainly her father, it used to be May, but with her now on the Bus he only had to deal with Stark who was definitely not as scary as Melinda.
"About what?"
Buffy glances around making sure Steve was out of hearing range before leaning forward "Oh...about those little blue creatures, you know the glowy ones. You used to bring Coulson back."

At her words Fury's eyes widen in shock, there was no way she knew about project Tahiti, he had made sure she had no access to that, she was too close to that team. It didn't make sense how she could have found out. Only Maria Hill and...that's when it hits him.
"Agent May told you."
"No." Buffy reveals with a smile making his eyes widen, she had tricked him, she was smarter than he thought "But thanks so much for the confirmation. It's been driving me crazy."
Fury clenches his jaw before glancing around himself, this was top secret, it wasn't even a file you could access without his box, he couldn't risk it getting out, especially not to Coulson, it would destroy him "How much does Coulson know?"

"Not a lot. His focus is on the Clairvoyant for now. But he knows you did something."
Fury sighs in frustration, this was bad news, Coulson was not ready to find out about Tahiti, his emotional and mental state wasn't ready "We will discuss this later." And with that Fury sighs and walks off leaving the blonde alone for a moment, Buffy sighs before jumping slightly as she feels someone touch her back.

Turning around she sighs in relief as she spots Steve "Stop doing that. We talked about the no noise thing. What do you do?"

"Stump or yodel. I remember." He says with a small laugh before frowning as he spots the look on her face, something was wrong, it was all over her face, she was conflicted about something "What's wrong?"
Buffy sighs and tucks a strand of hair behind her ear before exhaling softly "Nothing yet."

Steve frowns and tilts his head at the blonde in worry before his eyes widen as he spots the clock, he had somewhere to be and he knew she was supposed to be having lunch with Pepper today "Do you still need a ride?"
Buffy turns to look up at the captain and smiles "Nah. I got it. But I'll see you at home?"
Steve smiles brightly and thinks back to his big plan for tonight, it was tonight, he was going to tell her tonight, it was right and hopefully, it all went well...hopefully.