Arcs Collide

Chapter 2 - Forging your way through

Fury released a deep sigh before asking, "Where do you want to start? A lot of shit has happened in the last eight years."

Carol thought about it. Fury was right; there were a lot of things she felt like she was missing, but they had to start somewhere. She felt safe asking about something more obvious. "Friday calls everyone by their title, so why are you Mr. Fury and not Director?"

Carol was surprised to notice his entire body stiffen, as if this was the most difficult part of the last few years. But after a moment, the man answered, "On paper, SHIELD is gone."

Carol must have heard wrong. "What?"

Fury just moved his eyes from the window to her before speaking. "Hydra infiltrated SHIELD from the start. Two years ago, they began their uprising. Rogers, Romanoff, and I were forced to destroy SHIELD to defeat Hydra that day—or at least that's what they believe."

Carol frowned. "You said it was gone on paper alone. Why and how?"

Fury's eyes shifted back to the window as he told the story. "The why began when I was named Director of SHIELD. I noticed the underhanded tactics we were ordered to use and knew something was wrong. At first, I kept the information to myself and kept observing. It was only in 2006 that I decided to turn to the only man who would be able to help me."

Carol shifted her eyes back to the window and said, "Stark."

Fury gave her a short nod. "Yes, Tony. I told him to keep my suspicion to himself and set Jarvis, his previous AI, to track any suspicious moves inside SHIELD. When Iron Man happened, I asked him to act like he never knew of SHIELD before so he could mix among the agents to weed out the traitors. I made him a consultant so he could infiltrate with the higher-ups and still stay away from the WSC. During the uprising, Tony hid me until I could recover, but then Rogers found me, and shit hit the fan. Tony saved as many as he could, which, thanks to my early warning, was most."

Carol nodded in understanding. You can't save everyone everywhere, but Stark tried his best, and his best had one hell of a result. "So you are rebuilding," she assumed.

Fury gave a small smile as he replied, "Yes. Tony keeps saying a war is coming for Earth, so we have to be prepared. He pulled all his strings in the military and with the president to have their backing for the secret rebuilding of SHIELD. You remember Coulson?" Carol did. She smiled at the memory of the man and nodded. "He is the new Director," Fury said.

Carol crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. "Not you?"

Fury shrugged. "I am too used to playing their games by now. Coulson is the better choice. I took a page from the best man I know and became a consultant."

Carol shook her head with a smile. Then realization hit her. "That General Hale wanted SHIELD to intervene in my case, but you didn't call them; you called Stark instead."

Fury nodded. "She was Hydra, and if SHIELD got involved, the WSC would have ordered for you to be contained for study. The system was broken, but that's what Tony does best: create and fix things."

Carol just shook her head. "Is that why he created the armor?"

Fury shook his head. "Pepper already told you he did it to escape terrorists who were paid to kill him. At first, he didn't care about being a hero or any of that business, but since the invasion, Tony was determined to protect the Earth from what's coming."

Carol's arms fell to her sides, and she stared at Fury with wide eyes. "What invasion?!"

So Fury told her. He told her about Loki, about the Chitauri, about the Avengers—Captain America, the Black Widow, Hawkeye, Thor, the Hulk, and, of course, Iron Man.