Project Insight
At the Triskelion, SHIELD agents are walking around, trying to finish their jobs, so they can go home for the day, while Bucky and Steve are returning from their mission on the Lemurian Star. It still bugs them that Natasha had a separate mission from them, their mission was to rescue the hostages, not get information from the ship, like Natasha was doing. It could have compromised the whole thing.
"You just can't stop yourself from lying, can you?" Steve exclaims, him and Bucky walking into Nick Fury's, the head of SHIELD's, office. Nick was looking through a file when they walked in, disrupting his work day.
"I didn't lie. Agent Romanoff had a different mission than yours," Nick says, while Bucky and Steve continue to walk up to his desk.
"Which you didn't feel obliged to share," Bucky says, staring Nick down. But it's of no use anyway, because Nick turned his chair to look out the massive window behind his desk, looking out over Washington D.C.
"I'm not obliged to do anything," Nick says, annoyed. Rubbing his temple, he's had a tough work day and this isn't helping on bit.
"Those hostages could've died, Nick," Bucky says. Bucky hasn't been the same since he woke up from the ice, he's still getting used to the modern world, granted so is Steve, but for him it's different. He doesn't have Ava, Steve has Peggy, even if she's 90 years old, he still has her. Bucky doesn't have anyone.
"I sent the greatest soldiers in history to make sure that didn't happen," Nick says, turning his chair, to look at the duo. He leans on his desk with his arms crossed on it, looking up at the two.
"Soldiers trust each other. That's what makes it an army. Not a bunch of guys running around shooting guns," Steve says, agitated with his 'boss.'
"Last time I trusted someone, I lost an eye," Nick says, standing up from his desk, to look at the two soldiers face to face, and to feel more powerful, now that he's standing an inch above the two. "Look, I didn't want you guys doing anything you weren't comfortable with. Agent Romanoff is comfortable with everything." He's now leaning on his desk, with his hands lightly propping him up.
"We can't lead a mission when the people we're leading have missions of their own," Steve says quietly, trying to get their point across, but Nick is way too stubborn for his own good.
"It's called compartmentalization. Nobody spills the secrets, because nobody knows them all," Nick says. Also trying to get his point across.
"Except you," Bucky says, pointing at Nick, with a very small smile on his face, not noticeable to normal people, but Nick is a trained spy and he can see that smile even with one eye.
Nick stands up straight, thinking over his next words. "You're wrong about me. I do share. I'm nice like that." He walks towards his office door and Bucky and Steve stare at him as he does, wondering what he's doing. Nick stops when he reaches the door, not hearing their footsteps behind him, they're meant to follow him. He turns his head and gestures in the direction he's walking, Bucky and Steve get the message and walk towards him. Nick leads them to an elevator that they never noticed before. One more secret to add to the list. The doors open and the trio walks in. "Insight bay."
"Captain Rogers and Sergeant Barnes do not have clearance for Project Insight," a computer says, scanning the room for who the people are before.
"Director override. Fury, Nicholas J," Nick says, as the elevator doors close. Bucky has no idea what this project could be, seeing as how Nick is the one holding all of the secrets inside him.
"Confirmed," the computer says. Steve stands against the glass wall of the elevator as it starts to go down.
"You know they used to play music," he says, remembering life in the '40's.
"Yeah," Nick says, in a knowing tone. "My grandfather operated one of these things for 40 years. Grandad worked in a nice building. Got good 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 steppin'.' Grandad got the gripping that lunch bag a little tighter."
"Did he ever get mugged?" Steve asks, not knowing where he's going with this story. Bucky doesn't either, but they know there's a hidden meaning behind it.
Nick chuckles, "every week some punk would say, 'What's in the bag?'"
"What would he do?" Steve asks, genuinely interested, while Bucky just listens. He's been so focused on work, and missions, and saving people, that he doesn't really have a life, he never even leaves his and Steve's apartment by himself, would only go somewhere with Steve. Part of it is not knowing where he's going but the other part is he misses Ava a lot, for him it's only been a couple years, in reality it's been over 70.
"He'd show 'em. Bunch of crumpled ones, and a loaded .22 Magnum," Nick says. The elevator goes into the basement, no longer showing them outside, but instead a large open space, filled with workers and three Helicarriers, like the one James and Bucky were one before the fight in New York. "Yeah, Grandad loved people. But he didn't trust 'em very much." Bucky and Steve look at the Helicarriers in disbelief, wondering what they are for. They know it's something Nick thinks is good but they won't. "Yea, I know. They're a little bit bigger than a .22." They now notice the weapons that stick out from the carriers, big ones, that weren't there when they were first introduced to them. Steve wonders what else they're capable of. "This is Project Insight. Three next-generation Helicarriers synced to a network of targeting satellites," Nick explains as they walk through the large factory-like room.
"Launched from the Lemurian Star," Bucky says in realization.
"One we get them in the air, they never need to come down. Continuous sub-orbital flight, courtesy of our new repulsor engines."
"Stark?" Steve asks, wondering why Stark would give SHIELD such a thing, but then again the man used to sell weapons of mass destruction, that's why he needs the Arc Reactor.
"He had a few suggestions once he got an up-close look at our old turbines. 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. We're gonna neutralize a lot of threats before they even happen," Nick says, as he leads the two men up to a balcony overlooking the room.
"Thought the punishment usually came after the crime," Steve says, looking at Nick, still trying to wrap his head around this and try to see his side, but all he sees is weapons used for more evil than good.
"We can't afford to wait that long," Nick says quietly.
"Who's 'we'?" Bucky asks, wondering if Nick has a side organization he's working for and not telling them, but he wouldn't put it past the man, he holds so many secrets within himself - he could probably write a whole book about how many he's actually stored in his secretive life.
"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," Nick says. Steve nods, but not meaning it.
"By holding a gun to everyone on Earth and calling it protection," he says, hating this plan Nick has come up with. He knows that he will take their opinion, but he won't do anything about it.
"You know, I read those SSR files. 'Greatest Generation'? You guys did some nasty stuff," Nick says, almost squaring up to the two men,
"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," Bucky says, pointing at the Helicarriers behind him to prove his point.
"SHIELD takes the world as it is, not as we'd like it to be. And it's getting damn near past time for you guys to get with that program," Nick says, hoping for it to sound threatening, but probably failing as these two men have seen so much horror in their lives that this one thing most likely wouldn't scare them.
"Don't hold your breath," Steve says, him and Bucky walking off right after.