Disclaimer: I do not and will never own Danny Phantom or anything affiliated with Marvel.
Fury had to admit, things were just not going the way he had planned them.
He expected to find a spy on board, don't get him wrong. It was obvious that someone wouldn't like his change in policy and it would spark some backlash; he just never expected the traitor to be someone so high up. Mr. Deggle was so high that he even advised Fury on his decisions. This only proved that he needed to keep closer watch on his crew.
Still, things were taking an unexpected turn. Fury expected the ghosts to all but cease entering the human plane after he captured Phantom, the ghosts' strongest weapon and quite possible the key to everything, but the attacks haven't changed at all. They seem to be coming in at a steady pace even with Phantom captured, almost like they don't even care. Maybe they didn't. Could he have gotten something wrong?
No, that was impossible. He had been director for far too long to make a mistake like that. He just needed to extract the information from Phantom and use it to deliver the crushing blow to the ghosts, and their leader. Things would be so much easier if Fury could find out where the ghosts were coming from. Why did they all start popping up a year ago? Phantom probably knew. Why didn't he just interrogate him now?
Fury pressed the button on his intercom. "Ms. Hill, are the preparations completed for the interrogation of Phantom?
"No, sir, the men were delayed when they had to find a place for Mr. Deggle. The holding facilities are really starting to get crowded with all the men locked up in them. Perhaps you should consider releasing some of them. It might even appease the populous and earn us some more support."
The director contemplated his lieutenant's idea. On the one hand, it would appease the angered populous, but on the other hand, they deserved to be locked up for one reason or another. "How many civilians are being held currently?"
"I'd guess about a couple thousand, sir. Most were protesters who left their houses to create a march and were immediately detained, or businessmen who were helping Phantom when it was injured and trying to let it escape."
"Release the people who tried to help Phantom. They can't do anything now that he's in our custody."
"What of the arrested protesters, sir? They haven't even had the beginning of a trial yet."
Fury gave it a second's thought. "They ran outside in the middle of a war zone. Not only could that have gotten them killed, but our soldiers could've died too. Obviously the best way to protect them is to keep them confined in these facilities."
"The populous might not see it that way, sir. They may think of it as unlawful detainment."
Aggravated, Fury got out of his seat and looked out the window showing all of Amity Park. Smoke could be seen all over the place as numerous battle were being fought on the ground. SHIELD must've lost 10% of its soldiers due to these battles with the ghosts. They were a lot stronger than what Fury originally intended, even with their anti-ghost weaponry. The worst part was that image of Amity Park never seemed to change. Whenever Fury looked out the window, he always saw smoke rising from the city, signaling a previous battle. "It's for their own good," he muttered, just loud enough for his lieutenant to hear.
"Okay, sir. Whatever you say." she said in her usual defeated tone when she knew she was right but didn't want to press the issue further. "By the way, the court martial of the spy will begin, so, being the judge, you should start preparing..."
Fury nodded his head even though his lieutenant couldn't see him. "Thanks for reminding me. I was so caught up with Amity Park that I almost forgot about SHIELD's own problems."
"Anytime, sir."
If Deggle was being honest, he never expected to die so soon. Even while he was using one of SHIELD's phone lines to give information to their main base, something considered highly treasonous to Fury, he never expected to die. Of course he was willing to give up his life, but he always figured some miraculous thing would happen that would let him survive. It was naive to think that, though it did keep him from losing his sanity. Now, approaching the podium in front of the Director of SHIELD, he could tell that there was no hope for his life being spared. He only used the trial to give him time for SHIELD headquarters a chance. There was no way he actually expected of making a case for his freedom.
Fury looked to both sides of the courtroom before speaking. Each side was filled to the brim with both high and low ranking members of SHIELD who wanted to watch the spectacle of one of their one getting prosecuted. "Mr. Deggle. You stand here facing crimes of treason and espionage for an enemy nation against SHIELD and the United Nations."
Deggle couldn't help but question what the director was saying. For an enemy nation? That doesn't make sense. To what enemy nation is he talking about?
"Because of this," Fury continued, "this will no longer be a court martial, but a military tribunal because you are a enemy combatant as stated by calling upon your rights as an American citizen, not a member of SHIELD."
"You can't do this!" Deggle shouted over the clamor erupting for the sides of the courtroom. "This is a blatant abuse of your powers!"
"Silence! Now do you wish to make your case before me or not? After I hear you out, I will find you guilty or not guilty and punish you accordingly, understand."
Deggle could've sworn he saw a small smirk on Fury's face. He stacked the deck so there was no possible way of me surviving! He's even getting some sick satisfaction out of my misery!
"Well, I never did expect to make it out of here without being labeled a dead man. SHIELD's headquarters will be at your doorstep any day now though, and they will put an end to your tyrannical reign. Until then, one slip up from you and the American military will be on your ass. They already don't trust you. Why else would they put armed soldiers at their border with you."
"Silence!" Fury bellowed, bringing the entire room to a dead silence. "Since you won't state your case, I find you guilty of espionage and treason. You shall be executed by the end of the week. Soldiers, take him away."
Although he knew the effort was pointless, Deggle still tried to fight against the two SHIELD agents as they grabbed a hold of his arms and began leading him out of the courtroom. Both sides of the room erupted into chaos, some men yelling at him and calling him a disgrace, others praying and giving him their kind words.
"Just you wait Fury!" Deggle screamed as he continued to fight against the guards. "Soon this helicarrier will be fall to the ground! Either by your so called comrades in the rest of SHIELD, or the United State"s military!"
Fury already had his backed turned to Deggle at that point, and was leading a procession out of the courtroom through doors on the opposite side of the room.
If only Deggle had one of those miracles right now.
As Fury walked out of the courtroom, a buzzing came to his ear, forcing him to stop. That buzzing could only mean someone was trying to reach him on his earpiece. "What is it?" he asked after pushing a small button on the bud.
"Sir, it's Phantom. The scientists have finished their experiments and he's finally ready to be interrogated."
The director slowly closed his eyes and reopened them, much more determined than before. "Understood. I'll be right there."
Man, this took me a while to write. Some was due to a new format style, but it did just take me a while to write too.. I have this story all planned out so I know what to do, but something just felt off. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed! Also, thanks to Sorenalice for betaing this chapter. You rock!
Reviews:
Inviso-Al: It's time for my sarcastic answer of the month. Hmph, how 'bout Clockwork will show up and fix everything so SHIELD never went to Amity Park. Wait, that's just the cartoon. Sarcasm is so hard right now!
SnowMiko: Phantom isn't going to die. He's at SHIELD's exclusive spa for exclusive people. There he can lay down, relax, and do whatever he wants. Ha! Two crappy sarcastic answers in one chapter. I'm on a roll!
Matt: V as in Vlad? No, he was with Danny at the exclusive SHIELD spa. In fact, that's how the first pompous pep fanfiction was created. I may have taken that a little too far...