Natasha Stark: SHIELD

Chapter 13:

Steve: I marched into Director Fury's office. "You just can't stop yourself from lying can you?" I asked.

"I didn't lie. Agent Romanoff just had a different mission than yours," Fury said, not even bothering to turn to look at me.

"Which you didn't feel obliged to share," I pointed out.

"I'm not obliged to do anything," Fury said.

"Those hostages could have died, Nick," I said.

"I sent the greatest soldier in history to make sure that didn't happen," he said, finally turning around.

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

"Last time I trusted someone, I lost an eye," Nick said, standing up. "Look, I didn't want you doing anything you weren't comfortable with. Agent Romanoff, is comfortable with everything."

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

"It's called compartmentalizing," Fury said, "Nobody spills the secrets because nobody knows them all."

"Except you," I pointed out.

Fury stood up taller, "You're wrong about me. I do share. I'm nice like that. In fact, I have something to show you."

He lead me from his office and to an elevator. "Insight bay," he said.

"Captain Rodgers does not have clearance for project Insight," the computer said.

"Director override, Fury, Nicolas J," he said nonchalantly.

We started riding down. I felt uncomfortable. "You know," I said, "They used to play music."

"Yeah," Fury said with a chuckle, "My grandfather operated one of these. For 40 years. My granddad worked in a nice building, got a lot of tips. He'd walk home everynight, roll of ones stuffed in his lunch bag. He'd say hi, people say hi back. Time went on, nieghborhood got rougher.He'd say hi, people'd say 'Keep Steppin''.. Granddad got to holding that lunchbag a little tighter"

"Did he ever get mugged?" I asked.

Fury chuckled to himself, "Every now and then someone would ask, 'What's in the bag?' So he's show them. Bunch of crumpled ones, and a loaded 22 magnum." He paused, "Grandad loved people, but he didn't trust them much." I looked down, and suddenly the light changed. I looked around. There were helicarriers all around. I was amazed. "Yeah," Fury chuckled, "They're a little bigger than a 22."

We got out of the elevator and walked toward the Helicarriers. I couldn't help gawking at the giant guns on them. "This is project insight," Nick explained, "Three next generation helicarriers, synced to a network of targeting satellites."

"Launched from the Lamaerian Star," I guessed. Nick nodded.

"Once we get them in the air, they never have to come down. Continuous sub-orbittal flight. Courtesy to our new repulsor engines."

"Stark?" I guessed.

"He had a few suggestions after getting an up close look at our old turbines," Nick said. He continued, "These new long range precision guns can eliminate 1000 hostiles a minute. The satellites can read a terrorist's DNA before he steps outside his spider hole.We're going to neutralize a lot of threats before they even happen."

"I thought the punishment usually came after the crime," I pointed out.

"We can't afford to wait that long," Fury said.