Chapter 75: Nicholas J. Fury

A/N: Fury POV.

-x-X-x-

Things weren't adding up. But to be fair, things hadn't added up for a long time now. Still… Nicholas J. Fury had reached the end of his rope. The SHIELD Director was starting to feel like it'd been years since he truly had his finger on the damn pulse.

He knew why, of course. It all started in 2008, when Tony fucking Stark got kidnapped and then came back from Afghanistan… different. There was no other way to describe it. The billionaire playboy from before the kidnapping couldn't be compared to the man who'd come out of that desert, no way and no how.

Made sense, of course. Three months of captivity and torture would be enough to change any man. The problem wasn't that Tony Stark had come back different, the problem was that all these years later and Fury still couldn't properly assess HOW he'd been changed by his experiences. Despite being potentially the most famous person in the world after New York, despite definitely being the wealthiest person in the world, Stark and his activities were still rather opaque to Fury.

Even Agent Thirteen hadn't managed to make much headway as SHIELD 'liaison' with Stark Industries. Not that Fury had expected much out of Sharon Carter. It had been a Hail Mary play to try to figure out what that 'Penny Carter' bullshit was all about. He'd figured there was a small, minute chance that Sharon's relationship to the original Peggy Carter might give her an 'in' with whatever monstrosity Stark had created.

Unfortunately that Hail Mary had failed. Agent Thirteen had all but been stymied by the very 'woman' she was supposed to be able to get in good with. And her access to Stark had been sufficiently curtailed ever since her assignment. And neither she nor Fury even had any room to complain because at the end of the day, Stark was a motherfucking member of the World Security Council now.

To say Fury was irritated to have such an unknown quantity like Stark on SHIELD's oversight committee would be the understatement of the century. Especially when things like the damn Convergence happened and SHIELD only heard about it after Stark had traveled to fucking Asgard a few times in a couple days and then briefed the WSC.

SHIELD were the ones who were supposed to be briefing the World Security Council on threats to Earth. Having to be called in by Alexander Pierce so the situation could be explained to him made Fury look more than a little fucking incompetent.

And then there was this bullshit. Project Insight. On the face of it, it seemed like an excellent idea. Six SHIELD Helicarriers patrolling the Earth with state of the art weapons systems and Repulsor Engines designed by Stark himself. After the Battle of New York, after the World Security Council decided to try and nuke New York City because they didn't feel like they had any other options… Fury was happy to go about finding those other options.

There was just one problem. Project Insight was Stark's baby. It was his idea. And that made it difficult for Fury to trust it. That was why he'd kept an eye on it from start to finish. And that was why he found himself meeting with Alexander Pierce, Secretary of the World Security Council.

"Mr. Secretary."

"Director. What seems to be the problem?"

Taking in a deep breath, Fury looks his old friend right in the eyes.

"I need you to delay Project Insight."

Pierce stares back at him for a moment, nonplussed. Finally, he shakes his head. But rather than deny Fury outright…

"May I ask why, Nick? This is…"

"I know. I know I'm asking a lot."

"More than just a lot, Nick."

Fury nods, well aware of that fact. Still, he's bolstered by the fact that Pierce isn't just shutting him down out of hand. He's hearing him out at least. That's good. Really good.

"There's something off about all of this, Pierce. Project Insight… it's too much too fast."

Furrowing his brow, the Secretary looks even more confused than before.

"What do you mean, exactly? Too much too fast? The technology is from Stark and we all know he's a genius. The man is fifty years ahead of the rest of the human race, but he's working with us at least. We're ahead of the curve on this, Nick. That's a good thing."

Normally, Fury would have agreed. Even setting aside Stark's involvement, he would have agreed. SHIELD had always been far too reactionary. And in a world that was accelerating in every possible way, it wasn't enough to react after the fact anymore. You had to be the one to make the first move. On that at least, Fury suspected he and Stark were in agreement, even if more often than not, Fury had come to realize Stark was the one who made the first move on HIM.

But even setting that aside…

"It's not the technology I'm worried about, Mr. Secretary. It's the personnel."

That gets a surprised blink from his old friend, and some pursed lips.

"… The personnel? What do you mean, exactly?"

"Sir, SHIELD doesn't have enough trusted men and women to crew six Helicarriers. We barely have enough for three."

Pierce nods.

"That's right. We've been recruiting around the clock to fill the last three though. We're on track to be ready for launch from what I understand."

Shaking his head, Fury grits his teeth.

"That's the problem. Stark has moved up the time table. We're recruiting for those last three Helicarriers too damn fast. There's no time to do thorough background checks for that many people. Someone, somewhere along the way, is cutting corners and phoning this in. That's why I need a delay on the project. SHIELD needs time to get this right, to make sure there's nothing suspicious about these new recruits."

Pierce looks troubled, but not completely convinced. Fury does his best to plead with the man, knowing that the Secretary is his best shot at getting to the bottom of this.

"Look, it might not be anything. It might just be general incompetence rather than malicious intent. But we need to take the extra time to make sure. This Project is too damn big for us to let it go off half-cocked, Mr. Secretary."

Mulling over his words for a moment longer, Alexander Pierce finally nods. Fury tries not to let the relief show too much, even as the Secretary sighs.

"Alright Nick. I'll see what I can do. I'll call for a vote tomorrow and we'll see about postponing the launch date by a few weeks. This is going to cost us though; I hope you realize that."

Fury nods, his jaw set.

"Nothing worth doing is ever easy, isn't that the saying? Better to dot our i's and cross our t's, I'd say, rather than have this all blow up in our faces."

Chuckling, Pierce smiles.

"You're not wrong, Director. You're not wrong at all."

With their meeting coming to a close, Nick Fury leaves the Secretary's office with his head held high and a weight lifted off of his soul. Sure it was only a stay of execution, but more time might be exactly what Fury needed to nail Stark to the wall. So long as he had Alexander Pierce in his corner, there was a chance. He just had to reach out and take hold of it.

-x-X-x-

Gritting his teeth, Fury finally lets up on the machine gun, looking around and seeing that his attackers have been slain. Not that it's much consolation when he's currently upside down in his overturned, totaled vehicle.

Not but two hours after his conversation with Pierce, he'd been attacked in the middle of a busy New York City Intersection by assassins masquerading as police officers who had in turn been backed up by what seemed like half a dozen squads of special forces. Fortunately for Fury, he'd been able to use his SUV's defenses to fight them off.

Unfortunately, they'd pulled out all the stops and his vehicle was no longer operable. He needed to get out of here, needed to get to ground and figure out who had just tried to kill him. More than that, he needed to get to someone he could trust. There was just one small problem with that. He didn't know who he could fucking trust at this point.

Pierce surely hadn't betrayed him, right? But while he trusted the Secretary, he didn't trust the rest of the World Security Council as far as he could throw them, really. Especially Tony Stark. And if the WSC was corrupted, then that meant SHIELD was probably corrupted as well.

Hissing, Fury pulls out a Mouse Hole from his glove compartment and climbs into the back of the upside-down SUV. Then, he activates the laser-cutting tunnel borer and cuts a hole through not just the roof of the totaled SUV but also the concrete under it, revealing the sewer system just below the New York Street.

Grimacing as he holds a hand to his side, feeling what might be busted ribs, Fury drops down through the hole, landing with a crunch and a pained groan in the tunnel below.

Who was he supposed to call? Hill? Even if she wasn't a traitor, they'd be watching her. No way that would work. Barton? Maybe, but while he was a good agent, he was more of a precision instrument. This felt bigger than one guy with a bow and arrow could handle.

That's when Fury realizes what he has to do. Stopping a few dozen yards down the sewer tunnel, he reaches into his trench coat, glad that he thought to bring it with him. Pulling out a very special pager, he fidgets with it right as a bright light suddenly covers his entire body from down the tunnel, forcing him to cover his face with his arm to keep from being blinded.

"Director Fury, sir."

Ah… shit. Once he's blocking the light with his hand, he's able to see who's come down here looking for him. Agent Rumlow of the STRIKE Team… geared out in the Iron Legion suit that Stark made for him. There was no way Rumlow was here this quickly on search and rescue. Fury wasn't that lucky.

Leaning against the sewer wall, Fury lets the arm holding the pager drop, even as he presses the button to activate the thing. At the same time, he speaks up to cover the beeping noises.

"Agent Rumlow. What'd Stark promise you, huh? What's he giving you, to betray SHIELD like this?"

Stomping closer, Rumlow chuckles from within the Iron Legion suit. Fury almost wishes the other man would take off the helmet so he could maybe pull his gun on him and shoot the fucker in the face… but unfortunately, Rumlow is too smart for that.

"Stark? Stark didn't send me, Director. This comes all the way from the top. Secretary Pierce is really sorry it came to this, but at the end of the day… it is what it is. Hail HYDRA."

What? That wasn't possible-!

But Rumlow doesn't bother exchanging further banter. The Repulsor in his gauntlet fires and Fury chokes on his own blood as he's blasted back into the sewer wall, a fist-sized hole punched through his chest. He immediately knows he's not much longer for this world, even as Rumlow stomps forward, arm raised and Repulsor Glove glowing as he comes to a stop looming over Fury.

But at least… at least the pager is activated. Turning it over so the screen is facing down, Fury tucks it up against the wall of the sewer tunnel, making it just another piece of debris in the shitty, smelly place. As far as places for dying, this was definitely in his bottom ten… but he'd always known he probably wouldn't get to choose the time or place that death came for him.

Staring up into the metal face of his executioner, Fury sneers.

"Do your wors-!"

The Repulsor goes off before he can get the last word out, reducing his head to mist.

-x-X-x-

"Sir, I have captured the signal from Director Fury's pager. It did not reach beyond the boundaries of our Solar System."

"… Good work, J. Once they're done in there, go in with a small batch of nanites and shut it off. Then toss it in with the sewage. Carol doesn't want to come back here anyways, or she would visit more often. Let her stay out there among the cosmos, saving alien civilizations. Earth will be just fine without her."

"Yes Sir."

Leaning back in his chair, Tony stares at the secret feed he's currently receiving from Rumlow's suit. He'd just watched the entire exchange… and watched through Rumlow's eyes as the man had killed Nicholas J. Fury.

He'd let that happen. He'd let Fury die. After all, he could have stopped it. He could have saved Fury in a half a dozen different ways. He'd chosen not to. He'd let the assassination go through. What did that make him? A monster, perhaps? But… it had to be done. Tony wishes he could say he and Fury could have coexisted after HYDRA was defeated. But the truth was, it never would have worked. Fury would always be suspicious of Tony, and Tony didn't really want the other man to be in charge of SHIELD once HYDRA was gone anyways. Even if he had Fury fired though, it wouldn't be enough. The other man would have just kept coming back for more punishment.

Was he sorry it ended this way? A little, yes. But at the same time… sacrifices had to be made.

"Sir, there's a call coming in from Secretary Pierce."

Raising an eyebrow, Tony leans forward.

"Put it through, J."

As soon as the call picks up, Tony speaks.

"Mr. Secretary. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I ordered the assassination of Director Fury two hours ago. I just received word from Rumlow that the deed is done."

That was interesting. Tony already knew all about it of course. He'd been watching Fury and Pierce's meeting from beginning to end, and watched as Pierce, instead of convening the WSC to ask for a delay, had immediately ordered Fury's death. It was interesting because from what Tony knew from reconstructing the mess that was Project Insight the first time around, it had taken Steve Rogers to get Fury to try and get Insight delayed.

Given that Steve was currently safely tucked away on a farm in Iowa alongside Bucky, Tony hadn't been sure whether history would repeat itself or not.

However, it seemed that the more things changed, the more some things remained the same. Case in point, Nick Fury's immense paranoia. It was the crewing of the last three Helicarriers that had caught the Director's eye this time around. Officially, SHIELD had increased their recruitment efforts, pulling from trusted militaries, law enforcement, and intelligence agencies all over the globe as well as UN affiliated bodies such as Interpol.

Unofficially, the last three Helicarriers were being filled with other branches of HYDRA right under Fury's nose. Even now, the man hadn't known what sort of people were being assigned to those ships. He'd just known something was wrong and thought it was Tony's fault. And so of course he'd gone to Pierce again, and once more signed his death warrant.

Privately, Tony wondered how Fury had felt in those last few moments, knowing from Rumlow himself that it was actually Pierce behind it all. That they were HYDRA. But really… there's no point in worrying about the dead. Not when the living are of far greater concern.

"I'm sure you have your reasons, sir. Is there anything you need on my end?"

"There is… it's time to take out the trash. This close to the launch, we need to ready ourselves to remove anyone who could be perceived as a potential threat from the board. That includes Colonel Rhodes."

Ah, now Tony understood why Pierce was calling. The man was upset, even if he wasn't showing it. This was about the conversation they'd had all those years ago. About whom they would have to remove from the board when the time came for HYDRA's Ascension. Pierce had just had to order his friend killed. So now he was calling Tony to order him to do the same thing. Misery loved company and all that.

There are arguments Tony could have made, of course. There's no reason to kill Rhodey right now, when Tony has control over the War Machine suit. There's no threat that Rhodey poses to the Project, not in the same way Fury did.

But that's exactly what Pierce wants. He wants Tony to come up with excuses. He wants to see Tony squirm. And then he wants to order him to do it anyways. All because he's confident that Tony won't live to see the end of the week. He's convinced, thanks to Zola, that the launch of Project Insight will also coincide with Tony and JARVIS being removed from the board.

"Of course. Consider it done, sir."

Pierce doesn't respond immediately to Tony's easy agreement. When he does, he sounds a bit nonplussed.

"… I want it done by the end of the day."

A nonsensical time table with no rhyme or reason to it, of course. Tony just smiles.

"Understood. Shall I take care of the other potential threats while I'm at it? Agent Thirteen perhaps? I've been suppling Agent Hawkeye with his arrows since the Battle of New York so it wouldn't be hard to lure him into a secluded spot to be dealt with. Commander Hill? Agent Coulson?"

At this point he's just throwing names at the wall. Realizing this, Pierce cuts him off.

"… Feel free to deal with your SHIELD liaison and Agent Barton as you see fit, but Agent Coulson and his team will be handled by the Clairvoyant. As for Commander Hill… one of the last things Fury did before he died was call her back to DC. Unfortunately for her, there's a fault in one of her plane's engines and she'll never make it back here."

Tony easily translates that to 'Rumlow and the rest of the Legion are closing in on her position and are planning to make sure she has an accident' and hums.

"As you say, Secretary."

"That will be all, Stark."

Pierce hangs up on him, causing Tony to let out a chuckle. Their relationship was decaying by the day, but that was honestly perfect for his purposes. There was a reason that JARVIS, masquerading as Zola, had convinced Pierce and Malick it was time to betray Tony. The fact that they intended to kill him alongside the rest of the World Security Council when the time came would make it all the easier to make it seem like he'd never been part of HYDRA at all. He'd be the big damn hero, saving the day.

Humming, Tony sits back in his chair again… before letting out a sigh after a moment. Fuck he was going to be sentimental, wasn't he?

"JARVIS. Make sure Hill survives her plane crash without a scratch, yeah? Would be a shame to waste the perfectly good faked death that Pierce and the Iron Legion are setting up with us. Arrange for her to join Rhodey, Sharon, and Clint in protective custody until this is all over."

"Very well, Sir."

There. Let it not be said that Tony never did anything for Fury. The Director of SHIELD might be gone, but Tony would go ahead and save his protégé as one final favor to the dead man.

And with those close to him removed from the board, safeguarded, and accounted for… Tony could move into the endgame with his head high and his mind clear of all distractions.

-x-X-x-

A/N: Honestly, even I didn't know that Fury was dying here until I wrote this chapter. But when it finally came down to it, I realized there was really no reason Tony would save him. He and Fury were never going to truly be allies and letting the bad guys kill Fury while Tony kept his hands clean really was the best outcome for Tony's plans.

Hmmm... is Tony a villain yet? :V

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