AVENGERS EVOLUTION

in

"The Chessboard Is Set - Avengers Assemble Part One"

Note: All characters and locations mentioned here are property of Marvel Comics Inc, I claim no ownership to them whatsoever.

PART SEVEN

SHIELD Helicarrier

April 2005

Colonel Nick Fury wandered down one of the corridors in the super-massive helicarrier, the hidden base of SHIELD (Supreme Headquarters International Espionage Law-enforcement Division). SHIELD was organized in the 1960s to meet the threat of the highly technological subversive organization called HYDRA. The identities of the organization's founders, the Executive Board, had never been revealed. Fury was SHIELD's first Executive Director, he was an ex-World War II commando and Central Intellegence Agency Operative.

It had been two years since the defeat of the mutant known as Apocalypse, which they would have never defeated if it weren't for Charles Xavier's students, the old Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, Magneto's ex-Acolytes and other mutants. But after that, things got back to normal around SHIELD – more like downright boredom. But no one ever said that working for SHIELD would be exciting, at least not to Fury's face anyways.

He reached the door to his office to find Sidney "the Gaffer" Levine working on some wiring next to the door panel. Sidney was SHIELD's top technician, he was always called on to fix the odd thing here and there.

Sidney looked over his shoulder to see the colonel standing behind him. He turned around , stood at attention, and saluted. "Er.. colonel Fury .. I didnt notice you there."

"It's alright, Levine." Fury answered. "At ease." Levine started to relax, breathing a sigh of relief.

"I'm almost finished installing that retinal scanner that you requested for, sir." He turned back to attatch one last wire, before closing the panel shut. "Care to give it a test spin, colonel?"

Levine stepped aside and allowed Fury to pass by and stand in front of the scanner. Being the least-technologically savvy person in the organzation, Fury wasn't quite sure what to do. "Is the voice recognition software still in operation?" he asked.

Sidney nodded. "I managed to integrate it when installing the optical scanner. Just mention your name and code number, the computer will tell you what to do from there."

Fury cleared his throat. "Computer," he spoke aloud. "Recognize Nick Fury, colonel – authorization code 11963."

A voice piped up from the panel, a feminine voice. "Voice recognition confirmed ... Colonel Nick Fury ... please prepare for optical scan."

Fury bent down, opening his eye wide over the scanner. A bright red light flashed in his eye, blinding him temporarily.

Finally the computer spoke. "Retinal scan complete. Unlocking door."

There was a loud click, and the door to his office slid open. Fury turned to Levine. "Good work, Gaffer. I just wish that red light wasn't so hard on the eye."

Levine stroked his chin in deep thought. "I'm sure some adjustments can be made," he surmised. "In the meantime you'll have to get used to it."

Fury patted him on the shoulder. "You did good work, Gaffer. I'm going to have to see that you get a promotion."

Levine sighed. "I'd rather take a pay raise, I've been saving up to get a place for the missus and myself in the Poconos."

"I'll see what I can do." He stepped into the office, the door sliding shut behind him.

No sooner did Fury sit at his desk, he heard the comm system go off. He pressed a button on the console on top of his desk. "Fury here."

"Colonel, it's Dugan."

"What's the problem, Dum Dum?" asked Fury. Timothy "Dum Dum" Dugan was a L2 Special Director at SHIELD, and Nick Fury's right arm man. He did a lot of stuff, so many different things – but Fury would trust his life with him.

"Special call in for ya, colonel," said Dum Dum. "It's the president – and it sounds very important."

"Punch it up to my office, Dum Dum." Fury closed the channel with Dum Dum, and opened a new one by pressing a button. "Mr. President – what can I do for you?"

President Bush spoke with a hint of urgency in his voice. "Colonel, I'd like to request you switch to the secure video channel, please."

"Very well." He pressed another button on the console, got to his feet and stood in front of the bookcase next to the desk. The bookcase itself split open vertically, and opened up to reveal a large television monitor, a book's spine opened up to reveal a small camera halfway up the monitor, focusing on Nick Fury. The monitor came to life, showing the image of the president of the United States. "I presume this isnt a social call, Mr. President?"

"You'd be right," he told him. "We've really got a situation on our hands, colonel."

Fury sat down on the corner of his desk.. "What seems to be the problem? How can SHIELD be of assistance?"

"Something disturbing was found by Customs in New York harbor. I'm sending you an image of it right now." The image of the President moved to one side as another image popped to the left in another window, almost resembling a split screen.

"Just received it now, Mr. President."

"It was found in one of the metal crates on a European freighter, this thing is huge – almost 20-25 feet tall. You need to check on the marking on the chestplate."

Fury pressed a button on the desk. "Computer, zoom in and enhance sector J9 on the image."

The chestplate was highlighted, the picture zoomed in – it was a blurred mess.

"Now enhancing." replied the computer, the image cleared up – Fury recognized it right away.

"HYDRA!" He exclaimed.

"Are you familiar with this device, colonel?" asked the President.

"It looks like an early design of a 'sleeper', Mr. President. They were built in the 1940's as an insurance policy by the Germans, they would be smuggled into Allied countries, and if the Allies were to win the war – these things'd be activated and cause nothing but death and destruction while the Third Reich would laugh from the comfort of Berlin."

"But do you know who designed them?"

"Yes, I do. A Doctor Adler and Professor Weiss, the project was also overlooked by Hitler's right hand man – the Red Skull."

"Could the Red Skull be responsible for this?"

"I seriously doubt it, Mr. President." laughed Fury. "Only because the man has been dead for over 60 years now."

The president began to weigh his options. "Would anyone else have knowledge on this project? Enough knowledge to put a stop to it?"

"There are two people who are still alive, and have knowledge of the Sleeper project. One is Captain America, but unfortunately until a cure can be developed to fight off his poisoning caused by his super soldier treatment from the project 'Operation - Rebirth'. There were two sites set for the Super Soldier project, the original was mysteriously destroyed while the other was taken by the mutant known only as Magneto - it too was destroyed." Unknown to the government, Fury managed to pull a couple of strings so that the remaining site could have been destroyed as well - preventing Magneto or any other super villain from getting their hands on the project. "You have noticed my report regarding the destruction of the site?"

"I have," answered the president. "But I don't care much for your 'don't ask - don't tell' policy."

"My apologies, Mr. President. SHIELD has managed to keep him in cryogenic freeze until a cure is made."

The image of the sleeper was removed from screen, the full image of the president filled the monitor."Then you must find a cure immediately, colonel. I want everyone to work around the clock on this one."

"We have many medical experts working on this," explained Fury. "We should have a cure developed soon – that is if all things go well."

The president spoke up. "You mentioned 'two', colonel. Who is the other person?"

Fury cleared his throat, he was a little reluctant to tell him. "There was one other person ..." he stuttered, ".. unfortunately he had gone missing and was presumed dead."

The president sighed. "That is unfortunate, colonel. Keep me posted." The president reached off screen, and the monitor went black. As the camera retracted itself back at the book, and the two halves of the bookcase slowly slid shut over the monitor, Nick Fury breathed a sigh of relief. What he didn't tell the president that the second person was Logan, before he became Wolverine. Not a whole lot was known about Wolverine's past, not even to Fury, he had quite the difficulty explaining why the person he's looking for is still the same age that he was 60 years ago – no way he could explain that. Now he had to find a way of developing an anti-toxin to fight off the cellular degeneration Cap suffered from "Rebirth", and have been working on that for several years - long before Fury became head of SHIELD - unfortunately no one was successful just yet. Then a thought popped into Fury's head, but he'd need Wolverine to do it

He pressed a button on his desk. "Dum Dum! Dispatch all agents!" He shouted. "I want Wolverine found!"

Will he find Wolverine? And how did the mission finally go down in 1942? Stay tuned...