The Soldat, The Captain and The Asset

2.9: The Secret

The group quickly walk through dark halls underneath a secret facility that even they didn't know had existed. A man, who looks like he may be some kind of doctor, runs towards them before his eyes drop down to the wound on Natasha's shoulder that's currently oozing blood onto her clothes and the hand gripping it. "GSW. She's lost at least a pint." Hill informs the man.

"Maybe two." Sam bursts in, taking a glance at the wound and the state that Natasha's currently in.

"Let me take her." The doctor tells them, reaching to help support Natasha into the yellow-lit room nearing the end of the corridor.

Hill shakes her head slightly, leading her into the room where a couple of beds are laid, curtains circling them for privacy. "She'll want to see him first." She tells her. She moves one of the curtains away, showing them Fury who is currently lying on a bed, alive and awake but hooked up to monitors.

"About damn time." Fury remarks as a doctor comes over and starts to treat Natasha's wound. "Lacerated spinal column, cracked sternum, shattered collarbone, perforated liver, one hell of a headache."

"Don't forget your collapsed lung." The doctor reminds him, glancing at the man before going back to focusing on the wound.

"Oh, let's not forget that. Otherwise, I'm good." He says.

"They cut you open, your heart stopped." Natasha argues, looking at him in confusion.

"Tetrodotoxin B." Fury answers. "Slows the pulse to one beat a minute. Banner developed it for stress. Didn't work so great for him, but we found a use for it."

"Why all the secrecy? Why not just tell us?" Steve asks, sounding angry at him, accusatory.

Fury didn't reply, keeping his dark eye on Steve, glancing at Sasha before looking right back at Steve. Hill sighed, looking over at the blond man. "Any attempt on the director's life had to look successful." She explained as if it was obvious.

"Can't kill you if you're already dead." Fury gave what could almost be considered a smirk at him. "Besides, I wasn't sure who to trust." He is helped up and moved over to a desk, placing a picture of Pierce onto the table. Their circle is lightened up so they can see whatever is placed down, the rest of the room plunged in darkness. "This man declined the Nobel Peace Prize. He said, 'Peace wasn't an achievement, it was a responsibility.'" He looks up at the others, sounding distasteful at Pierce. "See, it's stuff like this that gives me trust issues."

"We have to stop the launch." Sasha says before Natasha could get a word in, her mouth closing slightly, looking at the woman.

Fury puts a case onto the table, his hand placed on top of it. "I don't think the Council's accepting my calls anymore." He replies dryly before opening it, showing three chips inside the case.

Sam walks over and looks down at the chips in confusion. "What's that?" He asked, pointing at them.

"Once the Helicarriers reach three thousand feet, they'll triangulate with Insight satellites becoming fully weaponized." Hill explained.

"We need to breach those carriers and replace their targeting blades with our own." Fury continues.

"One or two won't cut it." Hill warns. "We need to link all three carriers for this to work, because if even one of those ships remains operational a whole lot of people are gonna die."

"We have to assume everyone aboard those carriers is HYDRA." Fury admits, sitting back against the chair. "We need to get pass them, insert the server blades, and maybe, just maybe, we can salvage what's left..."

"We're not salvaging anything." Steve buts in. "We're not just taking down the carriers, Nick, we're taking down SHIELD."

"SHIELD had nothing to do with it." Fury argues, sounding almost defensive.