The Price of Freedom

05

S.H.I.E.L.D. HEADQUARTERS

Steve was brought to Pierce who was talking to Agent 13.

"For whatever it's worth, you did your best," Pierce said.

"Thank you, sir," Sharon replied and as she turned to leave, she saw Steve. "Captain Rogers."

Steve replied coldly as he walked towards Pierce, "Neighbor."

"Ah, Captain. I'm Alexander Pierce," Pierce introduced.

"Sir, it's an honor," Steve said as the two shook hands.

"The honor is mine, Captain. My father served in the 101st. Come on in." They entered Pierce's office where he showed Steve an old photo of Fury with Pierce. "That photo was taken five years after Nick and I met. When I was at State Department in Bogota. ELN rebels took the embassy, and security got me out, but the rebels took hostages. Nick was deputy chief for the S.H.I.E.L.D. station there. And he comes to me with a plan. He wants to storm the building through the sewers. I said, "No, we'll negotiate." Turned out the ELN didn't negotiate, so they put out a kill order. They stormed the basement, and what did they find? They find it empty. Nick had ignored my direct order and carried out an unauthorized military operation on foreign soil. He saved the lives of a dozen political officers, including my daughter."

"So you gave him a promotion."

"I've never had any cause to regret it. Captain, why was Nick in your apartment last night?"

"I don't know," Steve lied.

"You know it was bugged?"

"I did, because Nick told me."

"Did he tell you he was the one who bugged it?" Steve didn't reply, obviously not knowing that information. "I want you to see something." He brought up footage of Batroc being interrogated.

A S.H.I.E.L.D. agent asked, "Who hired you, Batroc?"

"Is that live?" Steve questioned.

"Yeah, they picked him up last night in a not-so-safe house in Algiers," Pierce replied.

"Are you saying he's a suspect? Assassination isn't Batroc's line."

"No, it's more complicated than that. Batroc was hired anonymously to attack the Lemurian Star and he was contacted by e-mail and paid by wire transfer. And then the money was run through seventeen fictitious accounts, the last one going to a holding company that was registered to a Jacob Veech."

"Am I supposed to know who that is?"

He handed Steve the file. "Not likely. Veech died six years ago. His last address was 14-35 Elmhurst Drive. When I first met Nick his mother lived at 14-37."

"Are you saying Fury hired the pirates? Why?"

"The prevailing theory was that the hijacking was a cover for the acquisition and sale of classified intelligence. The sale went sour and that led to Nick's death."

"If you really knew Nick Fury you'd know that's not true."

"Why do you think we're talking? See, I took a seat on the Council not because I wanted to but because Nick asked me to, because we were both realists. We knew that despite all the diplomacy and the handshaking and the rhetoric, that to build a really better world sometimes means having to tear the old one down. And that makes enemies. Those people that call you dirty because you got the guts to stick your hands in the mud and try to build something better. And the idea that those people could be happy today, makes me really, really angry." He hesitated a moment. "Captain, you were the last one to see Nick alive. I don't think that's an accident, and I don't think you do either. So I'm gonna ask again, why was he there?"