The Inner Circle (Percy Jackson x Avengers)

Chapter 1: The USB Drive

Still reeling from his mission with Natasha, Steve walked through the halls of the Triskelion, S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, to one of the top floors where Fury's office was. He entered through the front doors and walked through the crowd of agents walking about to their destinations under the main arching windows that lit up the entrance of the facility. There was certainly a buzz in the air today, but he had to stay focused on what he had to say.

Steve marched into Fury's office and announced himself by accusing Fury for ruining the mission he was supposed to lead: "You just can't stop yourself from lying, can you?"

Fury looked up from his computer and responded calmly to Steve's agitated tone.

"I didn't lie. Agent Romanaff had a different mission than yours."

"Which you didn't feel obligated to share." Steve had made his way over to where Fury was sitting and stared him down.

Fury turned in his chair to face the windows in his office instead of Steve. He looked out over the city, leaned back ever so slightly, put his elbow on the desk and rested his face for a moment against his hand. "I'm not obliged to do anything."

"Those hostages could have died, Nick."

This time Fury turned around to face Steve and crossed his arms as he sat up. "Well I sent the greatest soldier in history to make sure that didn't happen." Steve's earlier glare was mirrored on Fury's tired face as he looked back at Captain America.

"Soliders trust each other. That's what makes it an army." Steve sighed as he held his place, not budging one foot from Fury's gaze. "Not a bunch of guys running around shooting guns."

Fury slowly stood up out of his desk chair to match Steve's height. Dressed in the usual black trench coat and matching black eyepatch, Fury placed both his hands on the desk and fought back with a powerful tone. "Last time I trusted someone, I lost an eye."

"Look, I didn't want you doing anything you weren't comfortable with. On the other hand, Agent Romanoff is comfortable with everything." Fury explained.

Steve was still dressed in his Captain America uniform and leant over a little of Fury's desk to make his point. "I can't lead a team when the people I'm leading have missions of their own."

For a moment, Steve thought back to the hostage situation yesterday night when he had found out Natasha was on a mission for reconnaissance rather than getting the hostages to safety. Her priorities had put the whole crew in danger. For what? One single USB drive. To Steve, that wasn't worth the risk, certainly if he had even known about it. The night continued on as the two completed their missions, but there were more bumps in the ride than Steve wanted to admit as the so called "team leader."

Fury's response jolted him out of his thoughts. "It's called compartmentalization. Nobody spills the secrets because nobody knows them."

"Except for you." Steve scoffed at Fury's excuse.

Fury took in a deep breath and looked down at his hands. He was tired, but there was still work to be done as some things were only starting to shift their gears. If only Steve could understand things from his perspective, but all he had to say for himself was that he was wrong. "You're wrong about me." Fury looked back up at Steve who was clearly annoyed.

"I do share actually. I'm nice like that." Fury made sure to enunciate every word that came out of his mouth for that sentence and smiled a little on the inside. It was time.

Steve didn't speak up immediately and was a little shocked at Fury's statement after their whole conversation. Was Fury even smiling a little bit? What was going on?