The Price of Freedom

03

Steve walked into Fury's office and almost immediately said, "You just can't stop yourself from lying, can you?"

"I didn't lie," Fury replied. "Agent Romanoff had a different mission than yours."

"Which you didn't feel obliged to share."

"I'm not obliged to do anything."

"Those hostages could've died, Nick."

"I sent the greatest soldier in history to make sure that didn't happen."

"Soldiers trust each other, that's what makes an army. Not a bunch of guys running around and shooting guns."

"The last time I trusted someone, I lost an eye. Look, I didn't want you doing anything you weren't comfortable with. Agent Romanoff is comfortable with everything."

"I can't lead when the people I'm leading have missions of their own."

"It's called compartmentalization. Nobody spills the secrets because nobody knows them all."

"Except you."

"You're wrong about me. I do share. I'm nice like that." He stepped into an elevator with Steve following behind. "Insight bay."

"Captain Rogers does not have clearance for Project Insight," the S.H.I.E.L.D. computer said.

"Director override, Fury, Nicholas J."

"Confirmed."

The elevator began moving down.

"You know, they used to play music," Steve said.

"Yeah," Fury replied. "My grandfather operated one of these things for forty years. My granddad worked in a nice building, he got good tips." He looked up. "He'd walk home every night, roll of ones stuffed in his bag. He'd say "hi", people would say hi back. Time went on, neighborhood got rougher. He'd say "Hi", they'd say "Keep on steppin'." Granddad got to grippin' that lunch bag a little tighter."

"Did he ever get mugged?"

"Every week some punk would say, "What's in the bag?""

"What did he do?"

"He'd show 'em. Bunch of crumpled ones and loaded .22 Magnum." He smiled. "Granddad loved people. But he didn't trust them very much."

As they continued to ride down the elevator, Steve noticed the giant Helicarriers. Steve glanced around. He would have loved to show it to Bucky and Chava, but tragically he would never be able to.

"Yeah, I know," Fury said. "They're a little bit bigger than a .22." He showed Steve around. "This is Project Insight. Three next generation Helicarriers synced to a network of targeting satellites."

"Launched from the Lemurian Star," Steve said.

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

"Stark?"

"Well, 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 gonna neutralize a lot of threats before they can even happen."

Steve frowned. "I thought the punishment usually came after the crime."

"We can't afford to wait that long."

"Who's "we"?"

"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."