NOTE: The ending to chapter 12 was changed for it being too drastic and all around terrible.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this story. Well, I will take credit for Mr. Deggle.
"Checkmate." Fury declared as he moved his black queen into striking distance of his lieutenant's king.
How Fury loved to play chess. It was the perfect game of strategy, with both players having the exact same amount of pieces with different movements per piece, forced to constantly change their strategy to compensate for the enemy's constant movements. Take this instance for example. His lieutenant, Mariah Hill, only had a few pawns and a knight left, all far away from her king. Fury on the other hand, already had her king in his sights just by using his queen. If she moved it out of the row and away from the queen, it would then be taken by his rook. Fury still had most of his force though too, and it was all because he didn't show his lieutenant all his cards until the very end. If for some odd reason his queen or rook were taken away, he would be two turns away from taking the king with his knight. He had won.
Ms. Hill put her hand on her king and lightly tipped it over, surrendering to the superior tactician. "Looks like you win again, sir." she stated with a little bit of melancholy in her voice.
For once she would like to beat Fury at that stupid game. He was beginning to get too arrogant for his own good. "Director, don't you think you should be out on the streets trying to quell the growing protests? They are starting to get out of control and are refusing to stay in their homes."
Fury shook his head, not even considering what she asked. "Nonsense, the ghosts are all but defeated and Phantom is captured. Soon this town will be ghost free and we can go back to hunting down Hydra."
"Sir, what is Phantom to you? Do you think he is the leader of these ghosts?"
Fury began repositioning all the pieces on the chess board for another game as he spoke. "Think of this whole war with the ghosts as one big chess game. The ghosts we have been facing are all just pawns taking orders from something else, their king." the director grabbed one of his pawns and moved it up one space.
"So are you saying that Phantom is this king?" the lieutenant asked, moving one of her pawns diagonal of her rook.
Fury grabbed another pawn and move it forward two spaces. "No, he can't be the king. I think of him more as the queen, the most powerful piece in chess. With him, the enemy's queen, gone, there's nothing stopping us from taking out the leader of the ghosts and delivering the fatal blow."
Maria took her rook and set it through the whole in her lines created by her pawn. She was so close to winning this game already. The director just had to make one mistake and she would win.
"Maria, do you really think you can beat me with that strategy?" Fury said, a smirk growing on his face. It was obvious to the director that she planned on making a fake attack on his king, thereby sacrificing her rook, to get a better position on the board. It was a long term strategy, but could prove to work very well if he falls for it. Too bad he already knows what's going on. "I'm sorry, Maria, but..." Fury grabbed his knight and moved it past his lines. He just needed it too intercept her queen when she moved it into position which he predicted she would do.
The lieutenant simply grabbed the rook and took out the pawn next to the king. "Checkmate. I won."
"But, but, but," Fury muttered out as he stared at the board. "You can't do that! You never said check!"
"No offence, Fury...sir, but in real life the enemy will never proclaim when they will attack you. Just like they will never make entirely legal moves either."
Fury raised an eyebrow and looked away from the board. "What are you trying to say, lieutenant."
Maria let out a breath she had been holding as she carefully thought about her next statement. "Sir, I am saying that even good people might not always make the right decisions; they can stray from the path that is perceived to be good and commit shady actions."
Fury grinned as he stood up, finally realizing what Maria was trying to say. "You're talking about Phantom and how he was once a good ghost and defended this town from the others, but now he's one of them and is even helping them out." he stated.
Maria looked down towards the floor. She could tell that he fully believed in what he said, never suspecting her true intentions for bringing it up. Should she tell him the truth? Maybe this madness would finally stop and he'll realize the errors in his ways.
One look at Fury's huge grin and his confident demeanor told her it was too late. Even if she brought it up he wouldn't listen to her. "...Yes, sir. That's what I meant. May I be excused?"
Fury turned around and began walking back to his desk. It was time to get back to business. "You may. By the way, have you seen Mr. Deggle? He was supposed to meet me an hour ago but never showed."
"I think he went to the communication wing, something about talking to his family."
For two hours though? Fury knew that his soldiers like to keep in touch with their loved ones as much as possible, but wasn't two hours a little excessive? "Maria," the director called out before realizing that his lieutenant was already long gone.
Something wasn't right here. He needed to find Deggle now. Fury pressed a button on his watch and held it up to his mouth. "I want two squads to search this ship for Mr. Deggle. He should be in the communications wing. Find him and bring him to me."
Perhaps he should go himself? Fury looked outside his huge window overlooking all of Amity Park and did his best to ignore the itch he got to get out of his office and actually do something. He had been crammed into this small space for too long.
The director opened a drawer in his desk and pulled out his standard issue postal and began heading towards the communications wing. He just couldn't resist some good exercise.
Yes, it was reckless, stupid, and would probably get him killed, but Deggle had to do something. Fury was definitely stepping out of his bounds yet the council still hadn't acted on it, most likely due to their reluctance to challenge Fury. That's why Deggle had to step up and try to persuade the council into action. If caught he could face charges of treason and espionage against Fury. If he succeeded Amity Park might still have a chance to be saved.
Deggle reached for the phone at the nearest console and began dialing the number for SHIELD's emergency line. Luckily he was able to lock the door to this part of the communication wing so no one was there to watch him. Of course that also meant that Fury's suspicion would rise and people would be breaking down the door soon to find out what's going on. Deggle had to work quickly.
"Hello, you have reached the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logics Division emergency line. What is you need?" a feminine voice on the other end of the line asked, completely calm.
How can she act so calm when she has to deal with emergencies like this on a daily basis? Ah, I don't have time to really care.
Pounding came from the door to the room. "Hey, who's in there?! Open up immediately or we'll use force!"
Sweat began trickling down Deggle's face as he tried to think of a possible exit strategy. He was trapped in a room with only one door and no vents. There were vents out in the halls but none extended into the communication rooms. There was no way he was getting passed the door since there were already a least one soldier on the other side preparing to break his way through
This was the end of the line for him. He only had one last task to fulfill.
"Sir, are you there? Do you need any assistance?" the voice on the phone asked, most likely able to hear all the commotion.
Deggle calmed his churning stomach down as best he could as he tried to find his voice. "M-My identification number is 4751. I want to relay information to the council concerning the mission in Amity Park, Indiana."
More pounding came from the door as the soldiers on the other end were most likely charging into it at full force.
"Okay, agent Deggle. I am ready to relay your message."
The agent eyed the slowly cracking door as he instinctively began walking to the corner of the room, as far away from it as possible. "Tell them that things have become even more unstable with protests in Amity Park growing exponentially. I predict they will soon turn into full blown rioting. We have lost support from all the local ghost hunters and makers. Two more military bases have fallen to the ghosts. Phantom has been spotted at both bases but we don't know on what side he was on. Director Fury has also begun restricted even more constitutional rights of the citizens. I recommend either more reinforcements or a full evacuation from Amity Park. A change in leadership is needed."
The pounding got even more frantic as two of the soldiers began shouting. "What is going on in there?!"
"I don't know, but it sounds like whoever is in there is talking to someone.
Deggle ended the call and put the phone back on the console. He didn't need to hear the agent's confirmation for the message; he already knew she got it. Now for his big capture. The man grabbed his gun from the holster on his hip and took out the magazine. He set the empty gun and magazine on the desk for the soldiers to see when they entered. There was no way he was going to accidentally get shot for having a pistol on him.
The pounding seemed to stop as silence fell on the other side of the door. Deggle knew this meant his time was up. The big guns had finally arrived and not a second too soon.
A shot rang out and broke through the lock on the door. A team of soldiers began to pour into the room followed by Director Fury himself holding a smoking pistol. "Mr. Deggle," he said, keeping his face devoid of any emotion. "Why have you locked yourself into this room all alone? Did you need to make a private call?" Fury eyed the phone suspiciously as one of the soldiers walked up to it and began to sift through the phone's records.
"Sir, he seems to have made a call using SHIELD's emergency line."
Fury began to slowly pace around the room, still not showing any emotion on his face. "Now Mr. Deggle, what was the emergency? I thought you were supposed to be calling your family." Fury finally let emotion show on his face by glaring at Deggle, daring the man to lie to him.
Deggle didn't back down though and even returned the glare with his own. "Are you formally accusing me of a crime or can I go? If you are accusing me, then I demand my natural right of habeas corpus"
The soldiers seemed to have the same question on their minds as they looked at Fury expectantly. The director already made up his mind though and had no plans on changing it. "Agent Deggle, you are under arrest for treason and espionage, you shall now be escorted to your cell. I already suspended everyone's right to a trial due to Martial Law so you will not get one.
Two guards grabbed each of Deggle's arms but he easily shook them off and stood firm. "I am not an American citizen but a member of the United Nations military, Therefore, I should be given the right to a fair trial that I was born with. Do you deny me my natural rights? If you say yes and it gets out to the rest of SHIELD, they may lose faith in you."
Fury didn't give a reply, instead he thought over his current options.
Deggle considered this a victory, if minor. Of course he didn't plan on being innocent at this trial, most likely Fury would do his best to get a conviction, but this did give the United Nations and the rest of SHIELD some time to react before Deggle was executed. He might just be able to live through this whole ordeal.
"Your trial will begin early tomorrow and will convene around noon. Be prepared to present your case."
He's not even giving me a full 24 hours?! I don't think the United Nations can react that fast! Deggle thought. He didn't bother saying that out loud though, knowing that Fury wouldn't care, not when he is soon to be a convicted traitor.
Fury turned around and began walking out of the room. He stopped at the entrance to speak to the soldiers. "Agents, please escort Deggle to his cell. I have more important business to deal with right now."
Finished. I was thinking about including the trial in this chapter, but decided against it due to this taking longer to upload. So expect that in the next chapter. Also, I know that what the lieutenant did was impossible to get a checkmate in chess, but when I wrote it originally I somehow thought that it would work, so please just bear with me on that. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! All reviews are appreciated.
Reviews:
Inviso-Al: Skulker is in the little hunting ground in the sky now. SHIELD will probably buy him an ice cream cone and let him go on his merry way. He only supposedly killed numerous agents after all.
Midnight Bloom: Nope, everyone in Amity Park loved what they did, wouldn't you?
SnowMiko: I am currently writing a DP only Christmas oneshot, so if you're looking for a good read. Also, the building was never destroyed! I have no idea where you got that from! Nothing went boom….well besides the city block Danny destroyed. No, I am so not trying to cover up the blunder I made for the last chapter's ending.