Chapter 4 – A Serious Business Meeting
"Your late, Director Fury. This call has been on hold for the past two hours."
In S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters in New York, Director Fury was seated in a dark room, surrounded by large monitors. Haling the monitors were Fury's least favorite people. The World Security Council. The council was an international organization, and have always been positioned above S.H.I.E.L.D., much to Fury's chagrin. For years, the council has been based around ideals of maintaining global security and fostering world peace, but their methods of achieving world peace have been questionable to say the least. Fury and the council had shared different ideals since the beginning, and it was always a wonder how Fury was given the position of director of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Fury didn't even seem to care about the councilman's frustration. He just gave an indifferent expression.
"My apologies, councilman. I was met with an unexpected delay after you pulled the plug on my frostbite mission."
"Is that so? Did you actually end up locating the super-solider?"
"No. We did locate an important clue that could have pointed us in the right direction, but with the ever-shifting topography of the Greenland Ice Sheet, I imagine we'll be starting from scratch again." Then, Fury smirked. "But right now, Rogers is the least of my concerns. We located something even bigger?"
"I beg your pardon?" Fury couldn't see the councilman's face clearly, but he could sense the bemusement in his voice.
"Moments after you called off the operation, the teams that hadn't immediately gotten the message dug up some kind of containment unit. The metal on the device wasn't like anything on the planet. When we got it opened, we found a live alien organism."
Another council member, a woman, spoke up with an English accent. "That seems very chimeric, Director. I'd advise you not to make up tall tales to get out of trouble."
"Ma'am, do I seem like the kind of person who'd make shit up?" Fury asked. The councilmembers just stared at him, not saying a word.
Sighing, Fury went on. "Anyway, it's no lie. We found a living, breathing extraterrestrial. Prothean, to be exact. He claims to be at almost fifty-thousand years old."
"He claims?" A councilman asked.
"Yup. The thing was able to learn English in seconds. He was a little pissed for being woken up, but he cooperated. He's being transferred to the Mojave facility at this moment." Fury finished, and almost smiled at their shocked responses.
"This is quite… commendable, Director Fury. But it also raises many concerns. Should we be worried about any hostilities from this… thing?"
"The Prothean seems to understand that hostility won't get anywhere. If anything, he's confined himself here by choice. Plus he seems to be the only surviving member of his kind. Not like he can call for help or anything."
"I see."
One councilman, whose screen was located on the far right of the room, spoke. "Still, this is just living proof that Phase 2 is necessary. Even if it's one harmless alien, this means there could indeed be others out there. Not all of them friendlies. We need a deterrence."
Fury frowned. "You're talking about the Tesseract."
"Reigniting the Tesseract. That is correct."
Fury slouched in his seat, and rested his feet up on the desk. "Hey, no argument here. I love that objective. It's definitely one of my top three or four favorite objectives in the whole damn handbook!" Fury unslouched, and stared intently at the screens. "But after trying nuclear, geothermal, electric, magnetic, electromagnetic, static, kinetic, solar, and about forty-seven other mixed variant energy sources without any results… we're a little short on ideas."
"There is a way, Director Fury," The councilwoman spoke. "both history and legend can attest to it. Inspiration will strike."
"And we hope to expedite this process moving forward now that the lion's share of S.H.I.E.L.D. Resources will be dedicated to the Tesseract."
Fury's infamous scowl crossed his face. "Say that again?"
"A prospectus outlining new budgetary allocations will arrive shortly. In keeping with the agency's mandate, the majority of funding, equipment, and manpower will be dedicated to analysis of the Tesseract, coded as Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S." The councilwoman stated. "The purpose of this redistribution is to take focus away from current wasteful programs and redirect it to P.E.G.A.S.U.S."
"We advise you to leave the Carrie White investigation and the… alien… in the hands of our top scientists. You need not concern yourself with them any longer."
"As despicable as he may be at times, you will let General Ross continue to deal with Banner. Any manor of civilian casualties will be in his hands, and they will be dealt with once the Banner catastrophe has passed. Besides, there is no real purpose in dealing with a man that has left you perplexed and undecided as to any course of action regarding his existence."
"As for Stark, if he thinks he can solve world peace on his own, we won't stop him. You, on the other hand, should focus more on the importance of his company's weaponry."
The councilman seated in the middle screen spoke in, and he sounded more sympathetic towards Fury than the others. "We embrace your enthusiasm, but your approach is misguided. Our decision is that the Tesseract is of greater significance at this point in time."
"And if I choose not to follow these new guidelines set forth in your 'prospectus'?" Fury asked.
One councilman, a man of Indian descent who hadn't said anything the entire meeting, interjected. "Then you'll be replaced with someone who will. If it helps to put this in perspective, then consider yourself on notice, Director Fury."
The screens went black. It was over. Fury did not look pleased. As if he ever did. Outside, Coulson was waiting patiently. As he was straightening his tie, the doors finally opened.
"That took a while."
They had a lot to say." Fury replied.
"Anything worth repeating?"
"Not in polite company." The two men walked down the hall, passing by a few other agents, all of which were too caught up in their own duties to notice them.
"So… what do we do?" Coulson inquired.
"We keep doing what we're doing and tell them them that we're doing what they want us to be doing."
"How?"
"Hell, I dunno. Get creative, cook the books. Whatever it takes to let us do this job right."
"Is that the best plan of action moving forward?"
"If it's not, I don't know what is."
Coulson frowned. "I'd like to ask why you're so adamant on doing this, sir."
Fury frowned. "We've been over this Coulson."
"I know, sir, but you've got to admit it sounds a little farfetched." Coulson said, scratching his head. "This Voyant woman, if she's even real, have you considered the possibility of her being a spy? She could be working for the Rising Tide."
"I doubt that. The Rising Tide is a hacking agency, not a spying agency. They're no real threat. Whoever this woman is, she's working for someone else. Someone way beyond our jurisdiction."
The two entered another room, the walls covered with monitors. They were all broadcasting news stories. Big stories. Some about Chamberlain, Stark's activities in Gulmira, and something about strange weather patterns in New Mexico.
Fury sighed. "What a mess."
Yep. There's chapter four. It's not really meant to be anything big. More like extra filler content. The next chapter may or may not introduce the fourth member.
Lastly, one of my reviewers asked if I was open to suggestions on a fourth member. Honestly, yes I am. If any of you do have any suggestions, by all means. Now, I'll remind you that I'm only accepting one at the moment, cuz I don't wanna add to many avengers this early in the story. I'll update whenever I can. See ya.