Chapter Seventy Two
The trip back to Washington was eerily quiet. Ada kept glancing at Steve self-consciously as she wondered what was going on through his mind. She knew that he would have found out the truth sooner or later. She had been hoping to figure out some way of telling him without SHIELD or Director Fury knowing. But Ada had quickly learned how badly that would end. Steve wasn't the kind of person who held a grudge, but he did know when to move forward.
A lump formed in the back of her throat at the thought. She couldn't bring herself to admit how horrible she felt as they reached the elevator, neither saying a word. The STRIKE team was already on their way to Alexander Pierce, who was at the top of SHIELD. Natasha had slipped off already, most likely to send in the reports she'd found through the flash drive to Fury. So that left Ada having to figure out how she would explain what led her to teaming up with Natasha in the first place.
"How long has this been going on?" Steve finally cut through the awkward silence that filled the elevator.
She flinched and looked down at the floor as she tried thinking of a proper explanation. One that wasn't going to make her look like an ass. Steve had already trusted her before. She doubted he would again when he found out the truth.
"I can't exactly disclose that information until we talk to the boss," she explained without making eye contact. Steve just threw her a look of disbelief as she let out a heavy sigh. "Look, there's only so much information I can give… I hate lying, especially when I know that you deserve the truth."
For once, Steve didn't know what to say when he realized what she was implying.
"So… everything you said before was a lie?" Steve guessed.
Her heart sank at the accusation in his tone. For all he knew, she was lying to him right now. And it stung to realize how right and true he was. She refused to make eye contact once again as the elevator reached its destination at a painfully slow pace. It made their destination all the more complicated and awkward. She knew that sooner or later, he would have found out the truth regardless of what happened on the ship.
"Maybe," she finally deadpanned.
It was Steve's turn to flinch at the tone of her voice. He didn't have the chance to respond when the doors finally slid open as the elevator reached Fury's floor. Ada glanced at him warily as she took the first step, knowing that she was already in for an earful once they reached his office. Fury trusted her enough to help Natasha with her assignments. He didn't trust her enough to explain the full reason behind gathering said intel, though Ada suspected she already knew his reasons behind doing so.
Pierce built himself an empire that's going to come crashing down on him, she thought with a shake of her head. When she first met Alexander Pierce, he hadn't seemed that bad. But the more she began to work for SHIELD, the more she got to know what he was like. Deep down, she couldn't shake off the feeling that Fury was right to gather whatever intel he could on SHIELD. Saving the data was the first step. Then they'd find whatever evidence they could to bring down the threat.
"You just can't stop yourself from lying, can you?" Steve demanded when he stormed into Fury's office.
Ada chewed the bottom of her lip when Fury threw her a scathing look. If he expected her to keep a leash on Steve, he was dead wrong. The Super Soldier was capable of doing whatever he thought was right, and Ada didn't plan on stopping him anytime soon.
Besides, she did silently agree with Steve that Fury shouldn't have kept this from him. It meant the Director didn't fully trust Steve with whatever secrets he was keeping. And Steve had more of a reason not to trust SHIELD.
"I didn't lie," Fury deadpanned. "Agent Romanoff and Agent Stark had a different mission than yours."
"Which neither of you didn't feel obliged to share," Steve snapped.
Ada couldn't help but flinch when Steve looked at either of them as he spoke, the accusation in his tone leaving her to wish she'd told him sooner. It would have saved them from this conversation, and the fact that they were confronting Fury about what happened.
"I'm not obliged to do anything," Fury retorted.
He kept glancing between Ada and Steve, as if he expected Ada to say something that would make things worse. She managed to hold her tongue, though she really did want to say something. She hated knowing that they had been lying to him just to gather intel. Steve was right about one thing – they needed to work together based on trust rather than lies.
"Those hostages could've died, Nick."
Ada didn't miss the exasperation in his voice, or how deadly serious he'd gotten. His shoulders were tense with annoyance as he looked Fury in the eye. She swallowed hard at the thought of what might have happened had he not been there at all.
"I sent the greatest soldier in history to make sure that didn't happen."
Steve crossed his arms when Fury leaned forward and looked at him expectantly. Ada knew this wasn't going to end well if Steve had his way. He was already annoyed enough with the way Fury had been avoiding a proper answer to his demands. And the fact that Fury continued lying through his teeth.
"Soldiers trust each other, that's what makes it an army," Steve snapped after glancing at Ada pointedly. She flinched once again under his piercing gaze. She knew he was referring to what she said earlier. "I'm not going to trust anyone who runs around and shoots their guns."
"The last time I trusted someone, I lost an eye," Fury pointed out. Ada glanced at him warily when he said that. She'd only heard bits and pieces of how Fury had lost his eye from Coulson and through Clint. But she'd quickly learned that most of them were just rumors. Stories meant to remind agents of why Fury was the Director in the first place. "Look, I didn't want you doing anything you weren't comfortable with. Agent Romanoff and Agent Stark are comfortable with everything."
"Not necessarily," Ada finally spoke up. Fury threw her a withering look when she crossed her arms and glared back defiantly. "Sir, you asked me to work alongside Romanoff with the intentions of lying behind his back, and while I agreed to do so, this mission has made me realize that lying isn't always the answer." She paused to let that information sink in. It took everything she had to ignore the look of surprise Steve was now giving her, "I understand that everyone has their secrets, and rightfully so. But retaining information from those who have earned their place in the world is never a good idea."
She glanced at Steve pointedly. When she finally caught Fury's piercing gaze, she knew that he wasn't going to let her get away with mouthing off at him. But she couldn't stand the tension between them anymore. Steve did have a right to know what was going on, and whether or not it was right to carry on with these missions. Fury narrowed his eye at her, and it looked as if he was going to reprimand her when he seemed to think better of it.
"I'd watch your tongue, Stark," Fury reminded her with an icy look.
Ada just rolled her eyes knowingly at his last comment, though fortunately, he knew better than to say anything in front of Steve. The Super Soldier just looked at her in disbelief when he realized that she stood up for herself in front of her own boss. Though, Ada had a feeling she was going to suffer the consequences later.
"She's right," he spoke up. "I can't lead a mission when the people I'm leading have missions of their owns."
Fury's jaw clenched as his eye locked with Steve's eyes.
"It's called compartmentalization," the director snapped. It was clear that their argument was getting to him. Ada chewed the bottom of her lip doubtfully when she realized how dangerous that could be. She'd been on the receiving end of his wrath before, and she wasn't in any hurry to experience that again. "Nobody spills the secrets because nobody knows them all."
"Except you," Steve responded coldly.
Ada rose an eyebrow in surprise when Fury stood up and looked between the two of them. He knew it was only a matter of time before they both started defending each other. He could see it written across their faces.
"You're wrong about me," he retorted. "I do share. I'm nice like that."
That was enough for Ada to scoff, "I'll believe that load of bullshit when I see it."
She almost smirked when Fury rolled his eye at her comment. She could already imagine the amount of headaches she and Steve were giving him at that moment. Considering he'd asked her to start working with Natasha while she went on missions with Steve, she wasn't in any hurry to betray the Super Soldier's trust. She should have argued more against his orders in the first place. It would have saved them all from the grief they were in right now.
They walked over to the elevator in silence as Fury led the way. Unease swept through Ada as she wondered where the director was getting at with his plan. She knew he had to convince Steve that what he was doing was a good thing. But in order to do that, it meant having to reveal something that not even she and Steve had clearance for.
"Insight Bay," Fury ordered once they were inside the elevator.
"Captain Rogers and Agent Stark do not have clearance for Project Insight," a computerized voice pointed out.
Embarrassment swept through Ada when Steve shot her a look of surprise. She had a feeling he was expecting her to have the same level clearance as Natasha and Clint. But the truth was, she was only halfway through her training. Because of her abilities and her age, SHIELD had a strict hold on what she could and she couldn't do throughout the agency.
"Director override, Fury, Nicholas J."
Both Ada and Steve stood quietly on the other side while Fury leaned forward for the scanner to register that he was who he claimed. Ada glanced at Steve self-consciously when she noticed that he looked directly ahead. She chewed the bottom of her lip once again as she suddenly wondered if he was still annoyed with her.
"Confirmed."
The elevator doors closed seconds later, and it began moving down to where Project Insight was.
She'd heard rumors about Project Insight through Rumlow and a couple other STRIKE team agents. While most of them had been able to keep their mouths shut about it, some of them bragged about how far along the project was.
Awkward silence filled the elevator as they slowly descended. Ada couldn't help but look around warily as she found herself wishing that she was anywhere but there at that moment. Fury seemed to be hoping that this would somehow convince Steve that he was doing the right thing. But she doubted that would be enough. His actions had left a clear sign that he had his own agenda to worry about, even if it meant getting other people hurt in the process.
"You know, they used to play music in these things," Steve remarked dryly.
"Yeah. My grandfather operated one of these things for forty years," Fury explained while leaning into the wall nearby. "My granddad worked in a nice building, he got good tips. He'd walk home every night, roll of ones stuffed in his lunch bag." Ada rose an eyebrow in surprise as she realized this was the first time Fury had ever talked about his family. "He'd say 'hi', people would say hi back. Time went on, neighborhood got rougher. He'd say 'Hi', they'd say, 'Keep on steppin'.' Granddad got to grippin' that lunch bag a little tighter."
"Did he ever get mugged?" she couldn't help but ask after mulling over the possibilities.
I can't imagine what that must be like, to see your neighborhood change so dramatically, she thought.
"Every week some punk would say, 'What's in the bag?'" Fury added the last part with a light chuckle and a shake of his head, as if he thought the idea of someone asking what was in the bag was amusing.
"Well, what did he do?" Steve asked.
"He'd show 'em." Again, Fury offered a subtle smile at the memory. "A bunch of crumpled ones and loaded 0.22 Magnum." Ada frowned when Fury looked at her pointedly. People had tried mugging her when she was younger because of who she was and because she was smaller. She was suddenly grateful that she'd always known how to defend herself at the time. "Granddad loved people. But he didn't trust them very much."
"Sounds like your grandad knew what he was doing," Ada remarked thoughtfully.
For once, Fury threw her a knowing smirk. Awkward silence resumed as the elevator kept going down. By the time it did, Ada was beginning to wonder what exactly Fury was planning to show them. Since she'd only heard rumors about Project Insight, she had little to no idea what to expect from this revelation. But as the windows began revealing more of what SHIELD had been working on, Ada's jaw nearly dropped open.
Hellicarriers. Three huge Hellicarriers were parked in an even larger hangar. Agents were running to and from their station while engineers went to work repairing whatever needed to be fixed or updated. The scene below them was almost imposing, and Ada suddenly found herself feeling uncomfortable as she realized that this was Project Insight.
"Yeah, I know. They're a little bit bigger than a 0.22," Fury told them while keeping an eye on their reactions. Steve just looked at the scene before him thoughtfully as the elevator finally reached its destination. Once they stepped out, Ada felt even smaller than she had before as the three Hellicarriers surrounded her. "This is Project Insight. Three next generation Hellicarriers synced to a network of targeting satellites."
"Launched from the Lemurian Star," Steve said when he began piecing two and two together.
Ada couldn't help but chew the bottom of her lip as realization dawned on her. The Lemurian Star was also the ship they'd recently rescued and taken data from. She knew that Fury had sent them to that ship for a reason. Whether it was his lack of trust in Project Insight, or his lack of trust in the agency, she wasn't sure. One thing she did know was that he knew more than he was letting on. That made their missions much more dangerous.
"Once we get them in the air they never need to come down. Continuous suborbital flight courtesy of our new repulser engines," Fury explained as they walked past the Hellicarriers.
"Stark?" Steve asked in surprise.
"I'm surprised you managed to convince my father of all people to work on any SHIELD related projects," Ada snorted in amusement at the thought of Tony working for SHIELD.
He would have thrown a fit if he was forced into working for the agency. Tony had never trusted SHIELD, and Ada couldn't necessarily blame him. But it was a job for her, and one that she admittedly loved doing. She tried to focus on helping people rather than what was going on within the agency itself, but she knew that would eventually catch up on her.
"Well, he had a few suggestions once he got an up close look at our old turbines," Fury pointed out. Ada crossed her arms when he threw her a look when she made her comment on Tony. "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."
Ada frowned at that.
"No offense sir, but shouldn't we get permission from the government before we launch anything in the sky?" she deadpanned.
She wasn't overly fond with the idea of launching any weapon that SHIELD had complete control over. Especially if whatever the range precision guns scanned were wrong. Innocent people could suffer the consequences of their mistake, and Ada had a feeling that would end in disaster for everyone involved.
"I thought the punishment usually came after the crime?" Steve nodded in agreement to Ada's statement.
"One, we don't need permission to launch these Hellicarriers into the sky," Fury reminded her after scowling at the fact that they were agreeing with each other. "And two, 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 a gun at everyone on Earth and calling it protection," Steve sighed in frustration as he realized where this was getting at.
"What if whatever that algorithm is makes a wrong move?" Ada put in knowingly. She cringed at the thought of what would happen if the scanners started randomly attacking innocent people. "How many people have to get hurt before you realize how much of a mistake launching these things is?"
"You know, I read those SSR files," Fury retorted after looking at both of them coldly. "Greatest generation? You guys did some nasty stuff."
"Yeah, we compromised," Steve replied without missing a beat, "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."
"SHIELD takes the world as it is, not as we'd like it to be," Fury snapped impatiently. A lump formed in the back of Ada's throat as she noticed how frustrated he was getting with Steve's lack of enthusiasm towards the Hellicarriers. "It's getting damn-near past time for you to get with that program."
Ada held back a sigh of frustration at that. The look written across Steve's face told her that he wasn't in a listening mood. And Fury's last comment was enough to tip the iceberg. She doubted he was going to follow through with Fury's advice now.
"Don't hold your breath," he muttered.
With that, he turned and brusquely left them without another word. Ada glanced over her shoulder to look in his direction, suddenly wishing that she had followed him when she could. Because the moment her eyes met Fury's was when she noticed how concerned he looked for the first time.
"Sir, I know it isn't in my place to say this, but what this program is going to do is a load of bullshit," she pointed out. "And something tells me that you know that."
She didn't give him the chance to argue. Before Fury could open his mouth and make a retort, she quickly turned on her heel and trailed after Steve. She hoped that would at least give Fury the incentive he needed to look into the algorithm SHIELD wanted to use on the Hellicarriers.
If what he said about them is true, I have a really bad feeling about this whole launch idea, she thought.
"You're not staying with him?" Steve asked in surprise when she finally caught up with him.
"Why would I?" she retorted with a wrinkle of her nose. It wasn't until catching his eye that she rolled hers in annoyance. "Just because he is my boss doesn't mean I agree with everything he says or does. Something about this whole Project Insight makes me feel uneasy."
Steve looked at her thoughtfully. Even though she was loyal to SHIELD, that didn't mean she wouldn't follow her instincts. Following Fury's orders had left her feeling uneasy in the first place when she realized it meant lying to Steve as they worked together.
"Sorry… I'm not sure who I should trust at this point," he admitted. Ada couldn't help but flinch at that. After what happened on the Lemurian Star, and today's events, she couldn't necessarily blame him for not wanting to trust her. "When did you and Nat start working on your own missions?"
She chewed the bottom of her lip and looked down at the ground anxiously as they left the Treskellion.
"About a couple of weeks before we moved to Washington," she explained with a small shrug. "I never agreed with what he was doing, or approved of it. But it isn't as if I was given much of a choice."
Though, that wasn't exactly the truth. She could have easily turned down Fury's order, but it would mean risking her place in the agency. Coulson might still be alive, but Ada doubted he would be able to stand up for her if she chose to fight back against Fury's orders. And there was only so much say Clint or Natasha had in the matter themselves.
"Why do I get the feeling that I find that hard to believe?" he deadpanned.
Ada couldn't help but flinch at the accusation in his voice. As much as she hated to admit it, she couldn't blame him for doubting the fact that she had been lying to him. It stung to know that she could have easily avoided this mess in the first place.
AN: Well, I was late yet again for updating, but I did finally update on my intended schedule. I am sorry about that; life got in the way. But I do want to thank everyone for reviewing. I really do appreciate the time you take to read this story and leave a review as well :) Hopefully the next update won't take nearly as long since I've finally got my act together.