Steel Hearts

- 2 -

After arriving back at headquarters, I immediately report to Fury's office to deliver the mission report. Not bothering to take my stealth suit off as it's rather comfortable. Stopping to politely knock on Fury's door as I always do, said door opens before I can do so.

"Agent Cohen, follow me," Fury orders, continuing past me without question with Steve in tow as well. I give him a confusing look as he passes me and he just shrugs, grabbing my arm to get me walking. The three of us silently walked back to the elevator shaft.

"Insight bay," Fury states after the doors open and the three of us enter.

"Captain Rogers and Agent Cohen do not have clearance for Project Insight," the computer AI tells him.

"Director override. Fury, Nicholas, J."

"Confirmed."

I cross my arms and stand between the two men as the elevator descends floor after floor, still majorly confused as to what Fury is going to show the two of us.

"You know, they used to play music," Steve states, breaking the silence.

Fury breaks into a sentimental story, "Yeah. My grandfather operated one of these things for forty years. Granddad worked in a nice building. Got good tips. He'd walk home every night, a roll of ones stuffed in his lunch bag. He'd say, 'Hi.' People would say, 'Hi' back. Time went on, the neighborhood got rougher. He'd say, 'Hi.' They'd say, 'Keep on steppin'.' Granddad got to gripping that lunch bag a little tighter."

"Did he ever get mugged?" Steve asks, taking the words out of my mouth.

Fury lets go a small laugh and respond, "Every week some punk would say, 'What's in the bag?"

"What would he do?" I ask.

"He'd show them. Bunch of crumpled ones, and a loaded .22 Magnum," Fury walks around to the other side of the elevator to peer out the glass, "Yeah, Granddad loved people. But he didn't trust them very much."

The three giant armored helicarriers in the hangar catching mine and Steve's attention, the two of us standing on either side of Fury to get a good look.

"Yeah, I know. They're a little bit bigger than a .22."

A soft ding and the doors open, Steve and I follow Fury out into the hangar toward the helicarriers. Fury explains what we're looking at as we walk, "This is Project Insight. Three next-generation helicarriers synced to a network of targeting satellites."

"Launched from the Lemurian Star," Steve says knowingly.

"Once we get them in the air, they never need to come down. Continuous sub-orbital flight, courtesy of our new repulsor engines."

"Stark?" I question, looking up at the huge engine we were walking under.

"He had a few suggestions once he got an up-close look at our old turbines. These new long-range precision guns can eliminate a thousand hostiles a minute. The satellites can read a terrorist's DNA before he steps outside his spider hole. We're gonna neutralize a lot of threats before they even happen."

"Impressive," I sigh, watching scientists and engineers continue their work as our platform continues to move toward the helicarrier.

"Thought the punishment usually came after the crime."

"We can't afford to wait that long," Fury states.

"Who's 'we'?"

I turn to face the two men, brows furrowed, wondering the same thing.

"After New York, I convinced the World Security Council we needed a quantum surge in threat analysis. For once, we're way ahead of the curve."

"By holding a gun to everyone on Earth and calling it protection," Steve says, not meeting Fury's eye; not very happy with what Project Insight entails.