Nick Fury
just entered the Helicarrier's bridge and looked around. As always, everything
on the bridge was like a perfectly oiled engine. His second in command stood in
the middle of the bridge and had everything under control as it seemed.
Nevertheless, red light pulsated everywhere in the corridors. He stepped next
to her and cleared his throat slightly. She nodded without looking up from the
Consoles.
"Director."
She just said. The two had been a perfect team for years. Maria always knew
exactly what was important to him and what unimportant details were.
"Hill."
He said only and already the two exchanged the place. Maria stepped aside and
let her boss at the control desk. From here he had complete control over the
ship's systems. Fury quickly activated some systems and the red lights went
out.
"Good.
The ship is not in immediate danger. What is Maria?"
"37
minutes ago, the team under the leadership of Superman set off. 18 minutes ago
we received an emergency call from the pilots. The radio message was relatively
short. It was directed to the Watchtower, but since the station was on the
other side of the planet at the time, we were used as amplifiers." She
said and stood stiff and serious beside him as she activated a message.
"This
is Javelin 192. Mission Priority Level 2. Under enemy fire from 8 cruise
missiles. Launch evasive maneuvers." They could be heard from the
loudspeakers and Maria Hill continued.
"19
seconds later, the plane was destroyed."
Fury turned
his head to her and raised an eyebrow of the healthy eye. The face was clearly
questioning how exactly she could know that and Hill answered meekly. "We
have received information from Reed Richards. He has already analysed the
situation and passed it on. His wife informed Pepper Potts."
"He
cracked the Wayne Carmoflauge System? Impressive."
Fury rubbed
his chin and opened a file on his system. Immediately a 3d image of the Javelin
could be seen and under the right wing a bright red dot. He activated some more
symbols and looked at the energy signature of this red dot. The signature
looked astonishingly familiar to him.
"Is
that what I think it is Hill?" he just asked and folded his forehead.
"Yes,
sir. It's definitely an ARC reactor. Standard model from Stark. One of the
smaller models. I would say 7 gigajoules per second. He uses this guy primarily
for drones or his micromissile." She said as she read the exact
specifications off her tablet. When she didn't get an answer, she stood
perfectly still next to him and waited calmly. She knew that. He was thinking.
"Who
knows?" he finally asked and looked at the monitor in front of him that
showed Reed's analysis.
"The
league knows the jet is down. Part of the Fantastic Four and Pepper Potts know
about this device so far. But we assume that Pepper will inform Batman in about
90 minutes."
"And
we know that from where?"
"Right
now, she's in a meeting with Cyberdine Systems. According to her schedule, this
will be over in 80 minutes. After that she will check her emails out of habit.
Then she will recognize what she got and as I know her she will inform Batman
immediately. She will surely want to make clear that Stark has nothing to do
with it."
One look at
his watch was enough for Fury as he nodded. "Then we still have time.
How's the team doing? Especially to our people.
"We
don't have any information about the inmates. However, they were on the road
with him. I assume that they all survived. And knowing Bobbie, she will do the
mission. That's what she's trained for. I wouldn't worry about that, sir."
She said for sure and Fury had to agree with her. As long as Superman was with
them, there was hope that the mission could be completed.
"Good.
The question is how that transmitter got to the plane there. Do we have an
up-to-date list of the personnel on Tower duty?" he asked and immediately
turned around as he wanted to leave the bridge.
Hill
followed him and scrolled around the tablet until she found what she was
looking for. "Of course, sir, according to Paragraph 29, all human
employees on the SWORD and Watchtower must register here. I've already had the
data transferred to the meeting room, as well as a pot of fresh coffee
Sir."
"That's
why I appointed you as my second in command. Hill." Said Fury in a serious
voice.
"Because
I always compile the documents according to your wishes" she asked in
astonishment. That was perfectly normal for her.
"No.
I'm talking about the coffee." He said with a broad grin and Hill had to
smile. This bum always managed to get her. Someday she would surely manage to
recognize when he made a joke and when he didn't.
As they
entered the meeting room, she transferred the data from her tablet to the
holographic table. While Fury filled 2 cups of coffee and made 2 pieces of
sugar for her, he asked.
"But
that's not the reason for an alarm, is it?"
"And
how do they know that again?" Hill smiled.
"Maria.
I've known you since you served at USMC. It was I who brought you to the SHIELD
Academy. Don't you think I know you quite well by now? So. What is
it?" he asked as he handed her the cup with the coffee.
"I'm afraid we have a problem sir. This is the 5th
security breach in the last 3 weeks. And I'm talking about serious security
breaches here." She said while she sat down and took the coffee. After the
first sip she opened several data packages.
"13 days ago there was an explosion in one of our
warehouses. A large part of our weapon prototypes were destroyed in the process
which were conceived for the fight against Superman.
"Didn't you say there was an accident in one of the
plasma conduits?" Fury asked astonished.
"Yes, I did, sir. And I still stand behind it.
Everything indicates that it was a malfunction of one of the plasma
distributors. And that's exactly the problem. If I ignore the incident today,
all the incidents I have recorded are malfunctions or accidents. But the sheer
number of accidents is what worries me. Today this transmitter was added. An
obvious act of sabotage."
"And that's why you think these "accidents"
were also sabotage?" Fury asked calmly and objectively. When Maria Hill
nodded he could see that she was apparently depressed. "Is there anything
else Maria?"
"Sir. I have personally investigated 2 of these 4
incidents. I take full responsibility, sir."
"Don't worry Maria. I investigated one of the other two
incidents myself and also came to the conclusion that it was an accident. So
don't worry. If that was sabotage then it was perfectly hidden from our eyes.
But I agree. The sheer number and this tracking device on a JLA jet make all
these things appear in a new light. That means we have to investigate these
accidents again. We have to turn every screw when we need to."
"I'm about to roll everything up again. I've already
put together a list of experts I'd like to have as support. I'm afraid I need a
team on this mission."
Fury looked at the pictures that lit up above the table.
"This is Coulson's team. You can't let Coulson get in
touch with any of the Avengers."
"I'm aware of that. But the team of him has an
excellent composition. With Fitz and Simmons I would have 2 of the best
scientists of our generation. And this Sky is an excellent hacker. Coulson is a
long-time agent like me and I can trust him."
"You stress the word trust so funny Hill." He said
skeptically.
"Yes sir. I'm afraid we have a mole in our ranks,
sir."
"I understand Hill. Good. Nobody should know about
that. You only tell me directly. I will put Coulson under your command. Only he
will know what it is about... Oh one more thing. I want this Sky to stay away
from our networks. She doesn't have clearance for the missions yet. And I don't
want a hacker with a criminal record to mess up our network."
"Sir? You mean you don't trust Coulson?"
"Maria. I trust exactly three people. One is Coulson...
and two are in this room. Clear?
"Sir.
Yes sir. I'm on my way right now.