Fury and A Day in Washington
With the mission complete, everyone made it back to Washington D.C. by daylight and headed back to the Triskelion, which was S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters in Washington.
Both Tom and Steve were so fed up with Fury that when they made it back, they instantly stormed up to Fury's office.
"Do you just constantly lie and leave out info?" Tom spat as he and Steve walked up to the desk.
"I didn't lie, Wron. Agent Romanoff had a different mission than yours." Fury told him.
"Which you didn't feel obliged to share." Steve added as they stood in front of the desk as Fury's back faced them.
"I'm not obliged to do anything." Fury replied.
"Those hostages could have died, Nick." Steve said, which made Fury face them.
"I sent both the greatest soldier in history and the host of a symbiotic alien to make sure that didn't happen." He told them.
"Yeah, well, if there's lack of trust and miscommunication, complications arise. Like a bunch of guys running around shooting guns at everybody." Tom explained.
"Last time I trusted someone, I lost an eye." Fury pointed out, standing up. Tom narrowed his eyes, knowing full well he ain't telling the truth about what happened with his eye.
"Look, I didn't want you both doing anything you weren't comfortable with. Agent Romanoff is comfortable with everything." He then explained to them.
"I can't lead a mission when the people I'm leading have missions of their own." Steve argued back, Tom siding with him completely as it makes things easier.
"It's called compartmentalization. Nobody spills the secrets, because nobody knows them all." Fury reasoned.
"Except for you." Tom coolly said.
"You're wrong about me. I do share. I'm nice like that." Fury said.
He then led the two into an elevator and a monitor showed Fury's profile saying that he has level 10 authorization.
"Insight bay." Fury requested where to take the elevator. Then the monitor showed both Steve's and Tom's profiles showing that they both have level 6 authorization.
"Captain Rogers and Thomas Wron do not have clearance for Project Insight." The computer notified as they all entered the elevator.
"What is Project Insight?" Ghost questioned.
"Looks like we'll see." Tom told him.
"Director override. Fury, Nicholas J." Fury replied as the elevator doors closed.
"Confirmed." The elevator started moving and Steve noticed how music wasn't playing, which made him think back to his time.
"You know, they used to play music." He told Tom and Fury.
"Yeah. My grandfather operated one of these things for 40 years. Granddad 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 neighbourhood got rougher. He'd say 'hi'. They'd say 'keep on steppin''. Granddad got to gripping that lunch bag a little tighter." Fury told them a story as the elevator started getting closer to ground level.
"Was he ever mugged?" Tom asked.
"*laughs* Every week some punk would say 'what's in the bag?'." Fury replied.
"What would he do?" Steve asked.
"He'd show them. Bunch of crumpled ones, and a loaded .22 Magnum." Fury replied as they started going underground.
"Yeah, Granddad loved people. But he didn't trust them very much." He then told them, looking through the glass and then the pair looked out and were shocked to see what looked like a large underground hangar with three Helicarriers.
"Holy shit." Ghost said, just in shock.
"Yeah, I know. They're a little bit bigger than a .22." Fury reacted to their expressions as they looked and saw that the Helicarriers were being worked on and had cannons and guns on them, raising questions already.
The three then walked out and walked up towards one of the Helicarriers.
"This is Project Insight. Three next generation Helicarriers synced to a network of targeting satellites." He explained what this whole thing is.
"To be launched from the Lemurian Star." Tom added.
"Once we get them in the air, they never need to come down. Continuous sub orbital flight, courtesy of our new repulsor engines." Fury pointed out.
"Stark?" Steve asked, knowing full well he's capable of this.
"Uh, he had a few suggestions once he got an up close look at our old turbines." Fury said, making them recollect what happened two years ago.
"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." Fury then told them as they got on a platform that moved.
"This is just taking things too far." Tom said.
"Thought the punishment usually came after the crime." Steve said, already not liking this as Tom and Ghost.
"We can't afford to wait that long." Fury argued.
"And who's 'we'?" Tom questioned him.
"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." The Director answered him.
"By holding a gun to everyone on Earth and calling it protection." Steve summed it all up in a way that showed how this isn't a good idea.
"And that's just an understatement." Ghost agreed bitterly.
"You know, I read those SSR files. 'Greatest Generation'? You guys did some nasty stuff." Fury pointed out.
"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." Steve then expressed his thoughts.
"And the fact that you mix those things up shows how twisted you all are." Tom added.
"S.H.I.E.L.D. takes the world as it is, not as we'd like it to be. And it's getting near past time for you to get with that programme, you two." Fury stated right up to their faces.
"Don't waste time holding your breath. You're a fool for thinking we'd agree to this." Tom finished off before he and Steve left.
"I hate him more and more as time goes on." Ghost said.
"Tell me about it." Tom told him.
He and Steve got out of their uniforms and rode on motorcycles out of the Triskelion. Steve had his shield on his back and Tom had a backpack on that had his armour in it.
Steve decided to go to the Smithsonian to go and have time to himself while Tom headed to the Library of Congress.
The moment he entered, he looked to read books on the ideas of freedom, fear and control. He sat at a table where many other people were reading.
He was in the middle of reading a book on the philosophy of freedom when Ghost was rumbling slightly.
"You alright?" He asked.
"Yeah. Just reacting to a certain familiar presence." The Klyntar replied and Tom was figuring out who when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Hello, handsome. What are you doing in the library?" A familiar voice asked Tom and he smiled, turning around to see Nakia smiling down at him.
"Hello, there." He greeted her before they kissed each other.
"I was just spending time by myself after being on a mission." Tom continued.
"Really? Anything of interest?" Nakia asked as she sat next to him.
"I can't say exactly what for reasons you might understand but let's just say that I might end up quitting S.H.I.E.L.D. sooner than later if Fury keeps up with his ways." Tom told her.
"Hmm. Does it have to do with these books you're reading?" She asked, looking at the pile of books.
"Yeah. Let's just say that Fury thinks that freedom is fear." Tom nodded.
"Right."
"Moving past that. How have you and Swift been?" He then asked.
"We've been doing good. Swift has been a big help with the missions. We both miss you and Ghost, but that's expected. And I heard that you trained another Avenger." Nakia then brought up.
"Oh yeah. He's interesting. I'll tell you more about him when we're in a more private setting." Tom told her and she looked at him lovingly and kissed him on the cheek.
"I gotta go. See you next year." Nakia said before she and Tom kissed on the lips and then they parted with Nakia walking away from him and giving him a sensual display with her hips swaying as she walked.
"She just knows me so well." Tom said in wonder.
"For a human, she is sexy." Ghost complimented before Tom continued reading for the next hour.
He returned the books back to where they were and then left to go all around Washington and stopped to take a meal at a steakhouse, which Ghost appreciated as he needed something that was tasty and then when it came to nighttime, he rode back to the apartment building he lived in, being neighbours with Steve. He had just parked his motorcycle when Steve arrived and parked his bike next to Tom's.
"Hey, Steve. How was your day?" Tom asked as they started to enter the apartment building.
"It was good. I met up with Sam at the VA. Caught up with Peggy." Steve answered him. Ever since Steve came out of the ice, he kept contact with an older Peggy and both Tom and Ghost couldn't help but feel so sorry for him.
"How was your day?" Steve asked him as they reached the stairs.
"Good. Spent time in the Library of Congress and met up with my girlfriend." Tom replied. Steve smirked slightly.
"Are you ever going to introduce her to me?" Steve grinned.
"I would but she's constantly busy with missions. And I mean it." Tom told him and Steve shook his head in amusement, not really believing him.
"He doesn't believe you." Ghost joked.
"Doesn't matter. He'll meet her eventually." Tom stated as they reached the floor where their apartments were.
"So sweet. That is so nice." A woman's voice was heard as they approached their apartments and saw their neighbour with a wash basket and was talking to someone on the phone.
"Hi." She greeted them and they greeted her back.
"I got to go, though. Okay. Bye." The woman then said to whoever she was talking to before hanging up.
"My aunt, she's kind of an insomniac. Yeah." She told the pair and they couldn't help but smile.
"You know, you are welcome to use either of our machines if you want. Right, Steve?" Tom pointed out.
"Oh, yeah, sure. Might be cheaper than the one in the basement." Steve nodded.
"Oh yeah? What's it cost?" She asked them.
"A cup of coffee?" Steve replied, clearly interested in her.
"Thank you, but, um, I already have a load in downstairs, and neither of you really don't want my scrubs in your machines. I just finished a rotation in the infectious disease ward, so…." She explained to them.
"Ah, right." Tom muttered.
"Well, we'll keep our distance." Steve remarked.
"Hopefully not too far." The woman said flirtingly at Steve. That was when Tom heard something from Steve's apartment.
"Is it just me or do I hear 1940's music?" Tom asked Ghost.
"No. I hear it, too." He replied. This put up red flags for them.
"Oh, and I think you left your stereo on." She told Steve.
"Oh. Right. Thank you." He replied and she left.
"Someone's in there, Steve." Tom whispered and he nodded.
"The window." He whispered back and so the two used a window to enter Steve's apartment and they quietly made their way through as the music stopped and resumed playing. Steve then grabbed his shield.
"Talk to me, Ghost." Tom said.
"They're around the corner." Ghost replied, sensing whoever is in the apartment. They peeked around the corner to see Fury sitting in a chair by a vinyl player.
"I don't remember giving you a key." Steve stated to him and Fury sat up, grunting in pain.
"You really think I'd need one?" Fury questioned.
"My wife kicked me out." He then told them.
"I find that hard to believe. You never say anything about yourself." Tom muttered.
"Yeah. There are a lot of things you don't know about me." Fury answered him.
"We know, Nick. That's the problem." Steve groaned as he turned the light on, which showed Fury with blood on him, looking like he was in some fight.
"What the hell happened to him?" Tom questioned. Steve was also confused as Nick gestured to be quiet and then turned the light off. Fury then typed something on his phone and showed the screen saying 'ears everywhere'. This set a new tone from now on.
"I'm sorry to have to do this, but I had no place else to crash." Fury told them before he showed his phone again, this time saying 'S.H.I.E.L.D. compromised'.
"Shit. What the hell happened to make it compromised?" Ghost questioned in disbelief.
"Who else knows about your wife?" Steve asked Fury, who stood up and showed his phone again, saying 'you and me'.
"Just… my friends." Fury told them.
"What makes you think we're friends?" Tom asked, clearly still annoyed at him.
"It's all up to you." He replied and then suddenly three gunshots and bullets came through the wall, shooting right through Fury, making Steve and Tom get back behind some cover. Steve looked out a window and saw a figure as he and Tom dragged a groaning Fury across the floor. They were about to leave and check when Fury grabbed their hands. Fury gave a harddrive to Steve, who took it.
"Don't trust anyone." He warned them right before the door opened up.
"Captain Rogers? Wron?" The woman's voice asked and they looked to see her with a gun.
"Captain, Wron, I'm Agent 13 of S.H.I.E.L.D. Special Service." She revealed to them.
"Kate?" Steve questioned, shocked
"I'm assigned to protect you." She told them, approaching them.
"On Fury's order?" Tom asked accusingly as she saw Fury.
"Yes." She replied before getting on her knees and checking Fury's pulse and then pulled out a radio.
"Foxtrot is down, he's unresponsive. I need EMTs." She said to whoever's listening.
"Do we have a 20 on the shooter?" A dispatcher said and both Steve and Tom looked out the window and saw the figure, clearly the shooter, running off.
"Tell him we're in pursuit." Steve told Kate before he and Tom leaped through a window into the building across the street. Ghost then took over and they ran after the figure, who was running up on the roof. They slammed through a double door and continued on, making a sharp turn around a corner, ran through glass and another door, past some desks.
Ghost helped Steve make a smooth sharp turn before they ripped open another door to a straight hallway to a window. Here they ran at top speed as they saw the figure jump from the roof onto the roof of the next building.
They smashed through the window, jumping onto the roof and then Steve threw his shield at the figure but then the figure stopped and grabbed the shield, stopping it. The figure wore a mask, covering most of their face and their arm looked like it was made of metal.
The figure then threw the shield but Ghost slammed it onto the roof as the figure jumped off. Ghost went ahead to the edge of the roof and looked out and the figure somehow disappeared.
"Who was that?" Ghost asked Steve, who stood next to him.
"No clue." Steve shook his head, not having an idea of who that was, but either way, there's a new player involved and they now have to figure out what is going on.