Special Agent 2: The Dark Soldier

Chapter 33

"I thought I'd find you here."

Fury's voice broke the busy silence of the basement as he walked down the creaking steps, glancing at Gibbs as he worked on the boat in the center of the concrete floor. Gibbs glanced up from his sanding, the sawdust lightly sticking to his grey NIS sweatshirt. At the moment, he was alone in the house; Loki, Thor, and Hailstohm were all still at NCIS, pulling a late night.

"What do you want, Fury?" Gibbs asked. Fury didn't answer, just finished descending the stairs and walked over to Gibbs' workbench, grabbing up the bottle of bourbon and pouring some into an old dusty jar sitting there after dumping out the screws huddled on the bottom of the glass.

After taking a sip of the liquor, the director of SHIELD sighed. "Oh, I needed that. Gibbs, I hate to say it, but you were right."

Gibbs set his sanding pad down and dusted his hands off on his jeans, coming around the wooden boat frame to stand by Fury. He picked up his white mug and cradled it in his hands, the inch of bourbon covering the bottom rocking with the motion. "About what?"

"Project Insight," Fury said heavily.

"I knew I was right about that," Gibbs said with a wry smile, taking a sip of his liquor. Fury frowned at him.

"Do you know how hard it is to tell you you're right?" He shook his head. "You know what happened to me on the way over here?"

Gibbs lifted an eyebrow questioningly at his old friend.

"I was followed," Fury said grimly. "Chased. The bastards tried to assassinate me. Guess I was seen as a threat after all."

Gibbs set his mug down, reaching for the holstered pistol sitting on the bench. "What?"

Fury nodded. "Shot my car up, almost blew me up. I managed to escape, ditched the car, made it here unfollowed. Two figures, one definitely matching the description of your Agent Sniper, accompanied the team sent against me. Who sent it is another question."

"You got an answer?"

"I think so." Fury took another sip from his jar. "This is internal. Has to be. I'm not denying that I'm hated in other agencies, but the timing...I don't like it. I called Project Insight in for review today and I don't think Secretary Pierce was too happy with that decision." He looked at Gibbs. "This needs to be ended, and there are very few people left in this world that I trust to help me do so."

Gibbs settled the holster on his belt, hand protectively over his gun. Fury laughed grimly before continuing, "Just like old times, huh? Two agents knocking about the country for the greater good. Except for the absence of our pilot friend."

"You still got it?" Gibbs asked. When Fury cocked an eyebrow at him, he added, "Not to use. Just making sure."

"Like I would lose the trigger to our greatest weapon," Fury said sarcastically. "I keep it on me always. In a secure pocket, on my belt." He patted his hip. "And don't worry about the files. I had them deleted years ago, wiped out of the system."

"You sure they really gone?" Gibbs asked. "My people find stuff that most think is gone quite often."

"I'm sure," Fury said. "I had Stark attempt to find them and even he couldn't dig them up. And he's the best there is, aside from McGee. Pierce will never know, not more than he already does."

"What's the plan?" Gibbs asked, and Fury was opening his mouth to reply when they heard the shots.

The small glass windows near the ceiling of the basement shattered, glass and plaster flying everywhere as Fury and Gibbs dropped to the ground, each reaching for his weapon. The bullets struck the opposite wall of the basement as Gibbs peered up, his pistol pointing up toward the broken windows.