Part 23

After 14 years, Natasha Romanoff meets her boss.

Natasha Romanoff had been assigned to spy on Rose Potter by Fury, but she didn't go the normal route. What use was there following the subject or rooting through their contacts when the subject loved to talk and already knew Natasha. So, in the interest of obeying common sense, Natasha simply asked the subject to just chat. They were meeting up at a lunch cafe where Natasha knew Fury had access to the security cameras, at a table that was seen from as many different angles as possible.

Natasha greeted Rose as she entered the cafe. "So you asked me to come here to reevaluate your opinion of me?" Rose asked. "I don't buy it, but I will temporarily suspend my disbelief. It's only fair."

"Thank you. This might be a bit off track, but you mentioned something about being special ops at one point. I will have to admit curiosity if we ever had any similar colleagues in the field."

"Statistically speaking, that is likely. Although my unit only ever was authorized to work on English soil and airspace, so any of your contacts in the M16 there is a healthy chance I know. Any specifics?"

"The few I can think of off the top of my head would be Agent Royal, Agent River and Agent Romulus, identities classified."

Rose smiled a fond smile of reminiscence of good memories, with a hint of sadness for those lost. "I know all of them, all were KIA* in 1996, as were many other good people. Their identities were unclassified after their death, as per the standard in my unit. Kingsley Shacklebolt, Lee Jordan and Remus Lupin. Remus was Teddy's father. Fury asked you about one of those names, didn't he?"

"Why do you think that?"

"The way you made sure to very visibly perk up when I recognized the names. Or the way you look up to the cameras in this restaurant, which are currently turned off because of electrical work in the back of the cafe, should I mention. Not even my doing."

"Yes, he did."

"Which one?"

"Shacklebolt. Cousin of his."

"Dammit, this all makes sense now."

"Oh?"

"Fury isn't his birth identity, that much has been obvious. But now I know what it is."

"Care to share?"

"Not really. Although I get why you want to know. Once a double agent, always a double agent?"

Natasha took a risk. "Far more than double, for an international security agent."

"Why of course, for an agent that can do anything."

"No limits for the scarlet agent."

"To infinity, forever, Agent." Natasha could not hold a gasp. "Well, I should not have underestimated one of my own, Agent Scarlet**."

"You're Agent Infinite? I remember hearing the pass phrase that belongs to the founder and head, but to meet the legend and to think I was spying on you..."

"Nice to see that could take you out of your composure. And as you already have the necessity to know, I need to unlock the memory of the details of the incident. Unlock memory pass phrase Arthur Shafiq case, full information."

Natasha closed her eyes, leaning back as she absorbed the information. "So Fury is Arthur Shafiq?"

"Yes, so it seems."

"It all adds up. I've been dormant since I left the KGB 14 years ago. Any assignments?"

"I want everything there is on Arthur Shafiq, alias Nicholas Joseph Fury."

"I have forgotten how easy these briefings are."

"Well, you're back in."

"Orders for reporting?"

"Natalia, you have been too deep in SHIELD, surely you remember we don't have SHIELD's strict command structure and clearance levels?"

"That took a while to resaturate my brain. I requested a total lock of all ISA information when I first joined SHIELD, Barton was my S.O., and he didn't have a clue."

"Good. Keep it that way. I don't want you revealed until the very last moment, you don't need to report. Have them say the information you need out loud, or do it yourself, and inconspicuously mutter your notice passphrase. I have the rest."

"What do I tell Fury?"

"Improvise. I only have a few requirements. You keep your boosts on hand, but do not use them if it can be avoided, I needed to give Stark one, there are massive upsides, but the downside is that they are now easily detectable as my work. So unless your life's in danger, do not use it. At this point it is preferable to use extraction, that's easier to explain as leftover KGB resources. Fury knows the KGB had magicals working for them and won't be surprised as much as his face will disagree. Secondly, do not reveal my connection to ISA under any circumstances, nor your own. Nor even ISA's existence. However I do want Fury to know, but not to suspect the source, that I am a Hogwarts alumnus, since his information is limited and time-worn, it will suspend a lot of his doubts."

"What of the Avenger's and Fury's suspicions about you being related to Loki? Should I tell them it is false?"

"No need to lie, Romanova. They will discover it eventually if they have not yet, and I need them to do so. It will be out within a day anyways, may as well give them a self-esteem boost. Neither the Avengers nor SHIELD are my enemies, but they do have the annoying knack of getting in the way and being a nuisance to redirect on the pathway I need."

"Should I point them in any specific directions?"

"Just make sure Thor's bedtime story about the primorials gets on the official records, and so does the statement that I bluff a lot. I need underestimation, ensure it is kept. If they try to kill someone, do not stop them. Nothing is worth breaking your cover at this point, death can be reversed. Knowledge is much harder."

Natasha nodded in understanding, leaving the meeting which had taken an interesting turn. Who knew Rose Potter was actually a living legend, and that Director Fury was actually a wizard, kicked out of magical society and wand snapped when he was 16 for a triple pureblood homicide, although Tom Riddle had been caught gloating about how he had managed to frame the pureblood scion of the Shafiq family, after he learned from his experience with Hagrid. Of that, only Riddle was guilty, but anything done since then, and especially since Riddle's permanent death, was still on record, without a single doubt. Fury was the spy of spies, yet he was even more of an enigma than Natasha could have imagined.

*KIA - Killed In Action

**Yes, a pun on the red room and Scarlett Johansson's name. I simply couldn't resist.

A/N: More on ISA forthcoming in later chapters. It is a long development arc and I will not dump all the expositions at once. Don't worry, I know exactly what I'm writing towards.