Red, White & Blue | Bucky x Reader

Chapter Four

After returning to Washington, Steve and I head over to SHIELD's headquarters, located on a small island in the middle of the Potomac River. At first glance, the building, also known as the Triskelion, looks like a large cylinder. But upon closer inspection, it's actually three C-shaped building surrounding a cylindrical-shaped one, all connected by glass walkways.

Steve barges into Director Fury's office on one of the upper floors, still angry with the events of our mission, and we find Fury sitting at his desk, his back to us as he gazes out at the city in the distance through the floor to ceiling windows.

"You just can't stop yourself from lying, can you?" Steve demands, coming to a stop in front of the desk. I hang back a few paces.

Fury calmly defends himself, still facing the window. "I didn't lie. Agent Romanoff had a different mission than yours."

On the way home, Steve informed me what that mission was. While we were busy freeing the hostages and taking out the pirates, Natasha disobeyed Steve's orders to save SHIELD intel from the ship's hard drives.

"Which you didn't feel obliged to share," Steve accuses.

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

Steve huffs. "Those hostages could've died, Nick."

Fury finally turns around to face us. "I sent the greatest soldier in history to make sure that didn't happen. Not to mention, an agent who can literally shoot people with her hands."

I roll my eyes. "Soldiers trust each other, Director, that's what makes it an army, not a bunch of guys running around with guns."

"The last time I trusted someone, I lost an eye," Fury states, standing from his chair and leaning forward, resting his hands on the desk. "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," Steve argues.

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

"Except you," Steve states, still irritated.

"You're wrong about me," Fury states, standing straight. "I do share. I'm nice like that."

He walks around the desk and toward the office door without another word. Steve and I share a glance before following, letting Fury lead us down the hallway and into to the elevator.

"Insight Bay," Fury says to the AI.

"Captain Rogers and Lieutenant Y/l/n do not have clearance for Project Insight," the AI tells him.

"Director override, Fury, Nicholas J," he responds.

"Confirmed," the AI replies as the metal doors slide closed.

We stand in silence, leaning against the handrails as the elevator descends.

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

"Yeah," Fury agrees with a nod. "My grandfather operated one of these things for forty years... My granddad, he worked in a nice building, got good tips. He'd walk home every night, roll of ones stuffed in his lunch 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?" I ask him.

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

"What did he do?" Steve asks.

"He'd show 'em," Fury states. "Bunch of crumpled ones, and loaded .22 Magnum."

I can't help but smile at the idle threat as Fury crosses the glass elevator, coming to stand beside us to gaze out the windows.

"Granddad loved people," Fury continues, still looking out the window. "But he didn't trust them very much."

The light from the windows suddenly vanishes, and Steve and I turn to see that we've descended into an underground hanger by. However, it's not the hanger itself that catches out attention, but the three massive helicarriers within, each equipped with its own guns and carrying multiple quinjets on its runways.

"Yeah, I know," Fury says, seeing the surprise on our faces. "They're a little bit bigger than a .22."

My gaze shifts to Steve as a pit grows in my stomach, and I'm glad to see I'm not the only one concerned about these new airships. When the elevator stops, Fury leads us through the doors and onto the busy hanger floor, where agents and mechanics wander around, going about their tasks.

"This is Project Insight," Fury explains, gesturing to the aircrafts above. "Three next-generation helicarriers synced to a network of targeting satellites."

"Launched from the 'Lemurian Star'," Steve realizes.

"Once we get them in the air they never need to come down," Fury proudly informs us. "Continuous sub-orbital flight, courtesy of our new repulsor engines."

"Stark?" I ask.

"Well, he had a few suggestions once he got an up-close look at our old turbines," Fury answers. "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're gonna neutralize a lot of threats before they even happen."

My blood runs cold as my concern turns to horror. "I thought the punishment usually came after the crime."

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

"Who's 'we'?" I demand.

"After New York," Fury explains, "I convinced the World Security Council we needed a quantum surge in threat analysis. For once, we're way ahead of the curve."

"By holding the world at gunpoint and calling it protection," Steve accuses.

Fury takes a step toward us, his pride fading. "You know, I read those SSR files. 'Greatest generation?' You guys did some nasty stuff."

"There was a lot of mistrust and misinformation during that time," I defend. "We often jumped to conclusions and did what we deemed necessary. And no, it doesn't mean everything we did was right, but we didn't have the resources you have today to make the better choices."

"We compromised," Steve adds. "Sometimes in ways that made us not sleep so well. But we did it so the people could be free. This isn't freedom, this is fear."

"SHIELD takes the world as it is, not as we'd like it to be," Fury replies. "It's getting damn near past time for you two to get with that program."

"If that means helping you enforce a police state, then count me out," I grumble, turning on my heel and storming back to the elevator, Steve following close behind.