Cosmic [s.r.]

1:4

Steve and I stood in the elevator awkwardly as I fidgeted with the USB stick. Steve told me he wanted me there with him when he confronts the Director so I can learn how to speak up for myself.

"Steve..." I started.

"You already apologized a million times. I know it's not your fault, Cali." Steve looked over at me sympathetically.

"I just wanted to prove myself. This was my one shot." I sighed, pulling my hair from the braid, letting the curls fall.

"I know." He nodded, softening his gaze.

"You just can't stop yourself from lying, can you?" Steve asked Fury as we walked into his office at the Triskelion.

"I didn't lie." Fury defended himself as I set the USB on his desk. He picked it up and slid it into a drawer. "Callisto just had a different mission than yours."

"Fury I'm sorry but Steve should have known."

"But that's not how this field works, now is it?" He demanded which made me drop my head. Wow, I love how I can't speak up for myself.

"Those hostages could have died, Nick." Steve pointed out.

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

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

"Last time I trusted someone, I lost an eye." Nick stood up from his desk chair. "Look, I didn't want you doing anything you weren't comfortable with. Agent Romanoff is comfortable with everything, and she felt that Callisto should learn how to do that sort of thing."

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

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

"Except you." Steve pointed out.

"You're wrong about me. I do share. I'm nice like that."

The three of us walked back into the elevator that Steve and I came in. But this time we didn't know where we were going.

"Insight bay." Fury spoke to the AI.

"Captain Rogers and Callisto do not have clearance for Project Insight."

"Director override. Fury, Nicholas J."

"Confirmed." The bot replied back.

"You know, they used to play music," Steve spoke up.

"It would be nice to fill the silence."

"Yeah." The director spoke up. "My grandfather operated one of these things for forty years. My granddad worked in a nice building. Got good tips. He'd walk home every night, a roll of ones stuffed in his lunch bag. He'd say, "Hi." People would say, "Hi" back. Time went on, the neighborhood got rougher. He'd say, "Hi." They'd say, "Keep on steppin'." Granddad got to gripping that bag a little tighter."

"Did he ever get mugged?" Steve asked which causes Nick to let out a small laugh.

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

"What would he do?" Steve asked.

"He'd show them. Bunch of crumpled ones, and a loaded .22 Magnum."

"I'm sorry, I don't understand." I furrowed my brows.

"See, Callisto, in this world, not everyone sees eye to eye by skin tone." Fury stated.

"But why?"

"Human nature apparently." Steve sighed, shaking his head.

"Yeah, Granddad loved people. But he didn't trust them very much."

Steve and I turned to look out of the glass elevator to see what was called "Insight Bay". What looked like large fighter jets were scattered around with tens of people working on them.

"Yeah, I know." Fury said to us. "They're a little bit bigger than a .22.