*C73 - Fury's worries for the future, Phil knows the Secret.

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'Inner dialogue/thoughts'

"Normal dialogue"

[System]

[Diary entries]

(Word Count: 2,185)

~ With Fury ~

Fury's eyes hardened further as he read the latest passages of the entry. He had initially thought that if he could stop the Sokovia Accords from being formed, then he would have been able to avoid the Civil War from occurring. However, now he understood the true cause of the falling out between the Avengers.

'Trust.' Fury mused. 'The Sokovia Accords did not sow distrust amongst the Avengers. The only thing it did was put them on two different sides. And judging from the entry, if a time ever came when they had to put their opinions aside to save the world, they would be able to. That is, until the trust within the Avengers was broken.

But that's not the most important piece of information, no. There is someone else behind the scenes.' The thing that Fury worried most was about the apparent assassination of Howard Stark and his wife.

'Someone has been able to cover up this assassination of a high-profile individual. Judging by the time period during his death, there's only a few people who would be able to cover up a conspiracy this deep.' Fury pondered as he began feeling a sense of unease growing within him.

He knew that Howard Stark should have been constantly monitored by SHIELD, as Howard was one of the founding members and also an integral part of SHIELD. Thus, the fact that an assassination was carried out and Fury, as the current Director, has no records about it, was gnawing at his brain.

'Trust. . . Looking at it from all perspective, there is only one possible candidate to be the one who could have covered it up, and I don't like who it is.' His heart suddenly ached when he made the connection. 'Alexander Pierce.'

Who was Pierce to Fury? Pierce was not only his mentor but was also one of the earliest and staunchest supporter of Fury. He had been able to confide in Pierce and had received many advice and guidance from him throughout his career. To suspect him of a conspiracy this deep was like shooting his teacher dead.

No matter how hard he tried, he could not shake off the feeling that Pierce had a hand in the assassination. What made it even worse for Fury was the fact that the assassination had been carried out by an enigma that he knew all too well.

Throughout SHIELD's history, there had been many high-level missions that had failed. In the mission debriefing, most of the surviving agents had told of a single person being the cause of the failure. This person wore a mask and had a metal arm, they referred to him as The Winter Soldier. However, now Fury knew exactly who it was behind the mask.

As he thought about the implications and future events, Fury's headache began to intensify. He would need to consider the fact that Steve Roger's best friend, Bucky, was still alive and is known as one of the deadliest assassin in SHIELD's databases. Not only that, but Bucky was also the one to have killed Tony's parents.

Aside from that, Fury also had to deal with the implications of Alexander Pierce being compromised. The evidence was just too plain to see for Fury. Suddenly, his lone eye hardened when he made another realization.

'Wait, if Pierce truly is the one who is compromised, then HYDRA's infiltration and subsequent hiding in SHIELD would start to make sense. Someone who is of that high level of clearance, credibility and authority would easily be able to manipulate the events from behind the scenes.'

[But this is a problem for the future. Right now, Captain is still trapped in ice for a few more years, and Bucky is kept in hibernation by his captors. Until they appear, there really isn't much for me to do. I liked Bucky when he was not brainwashed as The Winter Soldier, and Steve, although he is a little too traditional and formal, is a man that I can count to always have my back. So, when the time comes, I will help them out.]

Fury waited a while longer, but the diary entry did not update any further, signifying the end of the entry. As he closed the diary, Fury sat in contemplative silence as he processed and digested the amount of information that this entry had provided him.

Almost an hour later, Fury sighed as he finally decided that he would need more time to deal with the many issues that had just sprung up to him. At the moment, there was another more pressing matter that required his attention, which was also one of the reasons why he had called back Natasha, Coulson, Maria and Clint to meet him at one of his private and off-site safe houses.

It was time for a legend to announce his return.

~ Later with Natasha, at an undisclosed Safe House ~

Natasha was currently unaware that Luke was writing his seventh entry to the diary. 'I wonder why he's called me in this urgently.' She thought as she walked towards the safe house.

'He even told me to report to this specific safe house, which only a handful of people would know about its existence. It's also one of the safe houses we would go to should we need the services of Fury's personal doctor and nurses for injuries that we would not like to be on the record.'

Her musings were cut short when she arrived at the entrance of the safe house, where Clint had told her he they should meet. Before coming over, she had already called him just to catch up with him, but in that call, it was revealed that they both had been called in to report at the same time. As such, they agreed to meet at the entrance.

"Okay, two is a coincidence. But all four of us? Something big happened." Natasha spoke in mock suspicion as she walked towards her friends. Standing by the entrance were Clint Barton, Maria Hill and Phil Coulson.

"Oh, something big did happen alright, and Phil over here knows but won't spill." Clint said as he hugged Natasha, "It's been a while Nat, how are you doing?"

"Far better now that I've not been put on a life-or-death mission over the past few months." She remarked.

"Oh, I wouldn't really say that. Not after what happened in L.A a few days ago. I hear you were there, ground zero. I'm sorry we couldn't be there to help you." Maria interrupted as she went to shake Natasha's outstretched hand.

"That did happen, and I hope it never does again. . ." Natasha said in a tired tone.

Silence hung in the air between them, before Clint spoke again, this time with worry evident in his voice, "We read the reports. But Nat, how bad was it?"

Natasha looked at her friends and saw that all three of them had a look of worry for her. They had all been part of some dangerous and life-threatening missions, but never one this strange and unique. And while Natasha had strong mental and physical resilience, she was still just human.

Sighing, Natasha's eyes looked distant as she recounted her experience. "It was bad, guys. The reports do no justice to the situation on the ground. With human enemies, at least we know that a shot to the head or heart will take them out. And they would be just like us, so they wouldn't be too reckless, and any fights wouldn't be too. . .

Chaotic. Those creatures, they didn't care to be shot. They just kept moving and moving. It didn't matter how many we took down, because for every one we killed, two more would take its place. Their numbers just seemed countless, and it didn't help that aside from 5 STRIKE units, our only backups were the Military and local forces.

They aren't trained enough, hell even we weren't trained enough for this. If it was not for him, I can honestly say that I wouldn't be here talking to you guys right now." Natasha ended, her tone dropping slightly towards the end.

Picking up on her choice of words, Maria tried to probe, "Him? You mean that armoured person from the reports?" At her question, Natasha simply nodded her head.

"What do you know about him?" Maria asked.

Knowing what she was doing, Natasha adopted a wry smile, "I know what you're doing, Hill, but it's not going to work."

"It was worth a try." Maria replied as she shrugged her shoulders.

"Oh great, Phil knows why we're here, and Natasha knows who this Red Hood guy is. Anything else that I'm not being kept in the loop for?" Clint said in mock hurt as he looked around his friends, in an attempt to goad for more information that was being hidden from him.

However, contrary to his attempts, Natasha simply placed a hand on his shoulder as she brought him back to reality, "Sorry Clint, but it's a need-to-know situation. And right now. . ." She let her words trail as they all knew the ending to it. Clint could only give a dead stare at Natasha, who then turned her attention towards Phil.

"So, Phil. Word has it you know what's up with all of us being here. Care to share it with the rest of the class?"

Phil smiled mysteriously as he denied her request, "I'd rather not. It'll ruin the surprise."

"Huh, so it's a surprise. Considering that you're not in a sombre mood, it must be something good."

"Really?" Clint interrupted, "I thought Fury got hit by a lucky bullet and we were called as bodyguards."

At his admission, or what Natasha identified as an attempt to joke, Natasha, Maria and Phil just gave Clint an unamused stare. "What? I was just joking. . ."

"Anyways, you sure you don't want to tell us?" Natasha asked one last time for confirmation, to which Phil just remained silent.

"I see, how's Lola?" She asked with a mysterious smile of her own.

Suddenly, when Phil heard her question and saw the accompanying smile, he felt a silent threat being hung over him, like a prey being hunted by its predator. Swallowing his saliva, Phil pleaded, "Please don't. I just got her inspected and maintained a while ago."

Seeing as things were getting out of hand, Maria decided to take charge. "There will be no disguised threats against one another."

Natasha scoffed but still sent a wink towards Phil.

"In any case, are we just going to stand here and catch up or do we want to actually go in and see for ourselves what Phil is hiding?" Maria asked exasperatedly, tired of waiting.

"Oh, thank God." / "That's a great idea" / "Finally, a secret I can be a part of." Came the response of Phil, Natasha and Clint simultaneously.

Entering the specific codes and getting past the individual scans, all four of them finally went into the safe house. However, as they entered, the person who greeted them was a shock for all of them except Phil. Even Natasha, as a holder of Luke's diary, was not spared from the shock she felt as she saw the person standing before her.

"Holy fuck. . ." she muttered.

. . .

"Language."

- End of Chapter 73 -

E/d Announcement: With this chapter, ladies and gentleman, we are now heading into Original territory! The MTL will be followed LOOSELY, mainly just following the "timeline" or "plotline", while everything else is original! For example, We never got the Fury investigation and deduction works and we also never got the scene with Nat, Clint and the rest with Steve too. In the MTL, Steve just kind of, "I'm here" .-. No build-up apart from Nat telling MC "Steve is alive and awake." .-. 

Next time in C74 - Steve Rogers and the Fourth Diary Holder.

Seeing as Steve was still rooted on the spot, Natasha spoke up in Fury's defence, "You'll get used to him eventually. He doesn't show it, but he cares for all of us. Come on, we're probably going to do a thorough debrief on the battle." As she finished, Natasha too walked into the room, with Steve following suit shortly after.

You can support me on p@treon.com/The_Editor982 ! Advanced chapters are now live! Please take note that from 14th August 2024 onwards, uploads onto Patreon is around 2, at best 3 chapters a week if we're lucky. Each chapter being 1.8k to 3k words. 

[Author Note]