Disclaimer: not mine

I sent this to the beta over a week ago but no word since so I've decided to post this un-betaed.

Chapter 7

Phil sat back in his chair as Grant shut the door behind him, watching his Specialist leave, except he wasn't his Specialist…or maybe he was now. He didn't want to believe the younger Agent and yet…it made a sick kind of sense. But who could he warn? Fury hadn't been answering much lately, he could probably call Hill, but this was not information he wanted to get out, they would need to meet in person and she was in DC. It was horrible, not knowing who to trust.

He'd confined Ward to his room for now, but he didn't know what to do with him, his loyalty seemed to have shifted to the team, but would it change back?

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"The target is a mobile satellite launch platform: The Lemurian Star. It was sending up their last payload when pirates took them, ninety-three minutes ago," Brock explained as they gathered around.

"Any demands?" Steve asked as he adjusted his gear.

"A billion and a half." Brock answered.

"Why so steep?"

"Because it SHIELD's," Natasha scoffed, no other reason was needed.

"So, it's not off course, it's trespassing."

"I'm sure they have a good reason." Natasha offered with a smile.

"You know, I'm getting a little tired of being Fury's janitor." Steve settled his shield into place.

"Relax, it's not that complicated," she checked her bites.

"How many pirates?" Steve looked back at Strike.

"Twenty-five, top mercs, led by this guy. Georges Batroc," he showed them a photo of Batroc on the monitor. "Ex-TGSE, Action Division. He's at the top of Interpol's "red notice". Before the French demobilized him, he had thirty-six kill missions. This guy's got a rep for maximum casualties."

"Hostages?"

"Uh...mostly techs. One officer, Jasper Sitwell." He pulled up Sitwell's photo on the monitor. "They're in the galley."

"What's Sitwell doing on a launch ship?" Steve asked in confusion before shaking his head. "Alright, I'm gonna sweep the deck and find Batroc. Nat, you'll kill the engines and wait for instructions. Rumlow, you sweep aft, find the hostages, get them to life pods. get 'em out. Let's go."

"STRIKE, you heard the Captain. Gear up!" Brock yelled and they all began prepping their parachutes and weapons. Steve glanced over Harry who looked up and grinned at him before finishing settling his parachute. Harry was a little frustrated since unfortunately, it didn't look like the sort of mission where he'd be able to get the Captain alone to speak to him, even if he wasn't his first choice to hand the data off to.

Steve spoke into his radio, "Secure channel seven."

"Seven secure," Natasha answered. "You do anything fun Saturday night?"

"Well, all the guys from my barbershop quartet are dead, so... No, not really." He secured his helmet.

"Coming up by the drop zone, Cap," Brock warned.

"You know, if you ask Kristen out, from Statistics, she'll probably say yes," Natasha smiled, and Steve shook his head.

"That's why I don't ask," Steve answered as he opened the back of the plane.

"Too shy or too scared?" she taunted.

"Too busy!" Steve jumped out of the jet.

"Was he wearing a parachute?" Harry asked in shock as he stared down at the water, seeing the splash even through the waves.

Brock smiled. "No. No, he wasn't."

Harry just shook his head before waiting for his turn to jump. Not even he was that crazy, well…. maybe. he knew he could make that jump thanks to magic. Steve might be a super soldier, but he was still human, that had to feel like hitting concrete from this distance. Harry jumped, pulling his chute and coasting down onto the deck. He removed the pack and then joined the others in going over the side of the ship on ropes, walking down the hull to find the galley and got ready to shoot. He spotted Sitwell when he glimpsed in and Sitwell spotted him, so he was now aware help had arrived. When the order came he swung across the window and took his shot.

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"You just can't stop yourself from lying, can you?" Steve asked as he stormed into the office.

"I didn't lie. Agent Romanoff had a different mission than yours," Fury answered as he sat back, turning off the screen.

"Which you didn't feel obliged to share." Steve stood in front of the desk, arms crossed as he glared. Most would cower from Captain America looking like that, but Fury was one of the few who didn't.

Harry leant back in his chair, listening to the two argue via the bug he'd managed to hit Steve with on their way back to the States. Steve had higher clearance than he did after all, although he did still bad about doing it.

"I'm not obliged to do anything," Fury answered as he stood, and Steve ran a frustrated hand through his hair.

"Those hostages could've died, Nick," he argued.

"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 and shooting guns." Steve paced restlessly.

"The last time I trusted someone, I lost an eye. Look, I didn't want you doing anything you weren't comfortable with. Agent Romanoff is comfortable with everything," Fury explained.

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

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

"Except you," Steve snorted in disgust and Nick shook his head.

"You're wrong about me. I do share. I'm nice like that." He led him to the elevator and Steve followed him in. "Insight bay."

"Captain Rogers does not have clearance for Project Insight," the computer stated.

"Director override, Fury, Nicholas J."

Harry smirked, and now he had Fury's vocal override, wonderful. Nimue had made a recording of it and was already slipping into the few systems she hadn't been able to access before.

"Confirmed." the elevator started moving down.

"You know, they used to play music," Steve commented, looking out at the view.

"Yeah. My grandfather operated one of these things for forty years. My granddad worked in a nice building, he 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, neighbourhood 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?" Steve asked, genuinely curious.

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

"Well, what did he do?"

"He'd show 'em. A bunch of crumpled ones and loaded 0.22 Magnum," Fury smiled. "Granddad loved people. But he didn't trust them very much." They went below the river and Steve stared in shock at the giant Helicarriers. "Yeah, I know. They're a little bit bigger than a 0.22." They got off and he showed Steve around the massive hanger. "This is Project Insight. Three next generation Helicarriers synced to a network of targeting satellites."

"Launched from the Lemurian Star," Steve said as it clicked, and Fury nodded.

"Once we get them in the air they never need to come down. Continuous suborbital flight courtesy of our new repulsor engines."

"Stark?"

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

Harry felt sick as he listened, glad he was recording every word and encrypting it to send off to MI7. What gave SHIELD the right to do this? The rest of the world would never stand for it. And yet the World Security Council had obviously signed off on it, then again, they had tried to nuke New York so their judgement was suspect.

"I thought the punishment usually came after the crime."

"We can't afford to wait that long."

"Who's "we"?" Steve demanded, getting angry at seeing what Shield was doing.

"After New York, I convinced the World Security Council we needed a quantum surge in threat analysis. For once we're way ahead of the curve," Fury was proud of Insight, it was the next step in protecting the world.

"By holding a gun at everyone on Earth and calling it protection."

"You know, I read those SSR files. Greatest generation? You guys did some nasty stuff."

"Yeah, we compromised. 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," Steve snapped at him and Harry cheered him on.

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

"Don't hold your breath." He stalked off, needing to get out and clear his head.

Harry shut it down and slumped, looked like things were just as bad, if not worse than Smith and the Queen thought. He hesitated and then sent the file hoping Nimue could keep it from anyone and anything else.

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Smith listened to the file Potter had sent and went pale in shock before forwarding it to the Queen and Prime Minister. This was more than she had ever expected Harry to find, he was doing very well. It appeared his time with Shield was soon going to end though, he would have to stop this project and she doubted he could do it without being detected.

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"You should be proud of yourself, Peggy," Steve murmured as he stared at her photos and she smiled sadly.

"Mm. I have lived a life. My only regret is that you didn't get to live yours." Steve looked sad and she took his hand. "What is it?"

"For as long as I can remember I just wanted to do what was right. I guess I'm not quite sure what that is anymore. And I thought I could throw myself back in and follow orders, serve. It's just not the same," he admitted, and she took his hand.

Peggy chuckled, "You're always so dramatic. Look, you saved the world. We rather...mucked it up."

"You didn't. Knowing that you helped found SHIELD is half the reason I stay."

"The world has changed and none of us can go back. All we can do is our best, and sometimes the best that we can do is to start over." Peggy started to cough, Steve turned to get her some water and went to hand it to her.

"Peggy."

Suddenly Peggy looked at Steve like she was seeing him for the first time since he was frozen. "Steve?"

"Yeah."

"You're alive! You...you came, you came back." She stared at him in awe and he bravely managed a smile for her.

"Yeah, Peggy."

Peggy began to cry. "It's been so long. So long."

"Well, I couldn't leave my best girl. Not when she owes me a dance." He hated it when this happened, most of the time she was so strong and then her memory would waver, and she would forget. He stayed for a while longer before leaving, he should get back to DC.

Harry heard it all and swallowed, feeling utterly devastated for Steve. He cut the magic to the spell bugging Steve, he deserved his privacy, he should never have overheard that conversation.

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"Drop the weapon!" Coulson snapped at his friend, shocked by her betrayal. After learning from Ward…well he was getting sick of being betrayed.

"Coulson – "May tried.

"Drop the damn weapon and kick it over to the stairs, May, now!" he snapped, and she closed her eyes, sighing, but she slowly lowered the gun to the floor and kicked it away. "Now back the hell up! Over there!" He pointed her over closer to Skye as Skye walked a little closer to May, still pointing her gun at her, moving slow because she was still healing. Coulson moved down the stairs, picking up the gun and walked closer to May. Fitz was still safely closed up inside the lab behind Coulson and Skye. "Talk. Tell us where you rerouted the plane."

"I didn't set this new course. I swear!"

"Don't lie to me!"

"Yeah, well, the plane just turned around, for God's sake!" Fitz called from the safety of the lab.

"How is this happening, then?" Skye felt lost, the team had become the family she'd never had, the idea that May had betrayed them…

"H.Q. can override automated control of the avionics, take us anywhere they want. Let me check the instrument panel, and I'll be able to –" May offered and Fitz cut her off.

"No way!"

"You're not going anywhere until you explain what –"

"It's not me!"

"Why did you have an encrypted hard line?" they had a mole aboard, it wasn't Ward, well not anymore. If it wasn't May then who? Or was Garrett still using Ward's intel?

"And try to shoot me when we found it?" Fitz was holding a grudge.

"Let's take a breath, huh?" May looked at the weapons pointed at her, she could take them, especially Skye, but she didn't want to fight.

Coulson stalked closer to May, anger filling him, as he pointed the gun higher to her face. "Let's not!"

May was rattled by his reaction. "It was a dedicated channel…to Director Fury. That's the truth," she finally admitted.

"Director Fury? I haven't been able to get him on the line for weeks."

"You were reporting to him?" Skye's gun lowered slightly.

"That's all I can tell you."

"Oh, just come out with it!"

"That's all you can tell us?!" Coulson glared.

"I'm under orders! Fury will tell you."

"What? Was this an order?" Fitz pointed to the broken glass of the lab doors where the I.C.E.R. round hit. "To shoot me in the bloody head?"

"Hold on. We're not headed to Fury anymore," Coulson frowned, who had changed their course, was she right that H.Q. had done it?

"I don't know where we're headed. And I can't get Fury on the line because Fitz cut the line!"

"Skye told me to!"

"Someone was talking to The Clairvoyant, the real Clairvoyant," Skye said when they looked at her, moving to lean against the wall, she still ached, a lot.

"You were in the walls, Fitz. You want to explain why you were tampering with the planes sat cable?" May asked, frowning.

"Sure, because that's relevant! Don't try and turn this around on me!"

Coulson kept his gun pointed at May but turned and looked at Fitz. "Fitz."

Fitz glared at May for a moment before speaking. "I was trying to speak to Simmons at The Hub."

"And you needed an encrypted line? What's so secret that you – "

"Well, you tell me! Simmons and I know you two have been whispering – " He wagged his finger between Coulson and Skye. "Keeping things from us, about the drug that saved your life. Simmons is just trying to figure out how the whole thing works!" Fitz walked away in anger.

"Fitz. Who is she talking to?" May demanded.

Coulson, still keeping his gun on May, walked closer to the lab doors. "Fitz, open the door."

"No way, not until we sort this out. I'm not opening anything."

"Open the door," he ordered as May grimaced as they argued. "We can't get anything sorted until you open the damn door!" Coulson focused on May again. "Skye, get your laptop hooked up to our system. See if you can pull up any S.H.I.E.L.D. communications. I want to know where this plane is headed and why," he hesitated and then sighed. "Get Ward to help, I'll explain later."

"Coulson –" She lifted up a hand pleading and he responded by lifting his gun higher.

"You stay put!"

Skye had lowered her gun and was now standing in front of the closed lab doors, she lifted her arms to Fitz questioning if he was going to open the door. He did, looking like he'd rather have done anything else, and Skye entered.

Coulson turned his head to look at Fitz. "Now tell me who Simmons is talking to. Cause if it isn't someone we trust she's in serious danger."

Skye grabbed her laptop and retreated to the lounge but then went and knocked on Grant's door, wondering why he was in there. The door opened and she almost gasped when she saw him, he looked like he'd barely slept in days. "You're a mess."

"Thanks," Grant answered, unable to look her in the eyes.

"Coulson said you're meant to help with something," she told him, and he nodded, following her to the lounge.

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"I don't remember giving you a key," Steve commented as he recognised the form in the chair, flicking the lights on.

"You really think I'd need one? My wife kicked me out." He turned the lights back off.

"Didn't know you were married," Steve admitted, shocked.

"There are a lot of things you don't about me."

"I know, Nick. That's the problem." As he got a bit closer he could make out Fury's injuries which helped explain why he was there. Fury put a finger to his lips and then wrote a message on his phone, 'ears everywhere'. "I'm sorry to have do this, but I had no place else to crash." He wrote another text and showed it to Steve; 'SHIELD compromised'.

"Who else knows about your wife?" He asked, tense as he slipped a hand into his shield again. Fury showed him another text; 'You and me'.

"Just...my friends."

"Is that what we are?"

"That's up to you." Fury stood and then suddenly he was shot three times from through the window and collapsed, Steve looked out the window for the shooter then he quickly dragged Fury to the next room, before he let go Fury handed him the flash drive. "Don't...trust anyone," Fury passed out Steve heard someone breaking into his apartment and then his neighbour calling out to him.

"Captain Rogers?" Sharon called, and Steve saw her walking in with her gun pointed. "Captain, I'm Agent 13 of SHIELD's Special Service."

"Kate?" he asked in confusion.

"I'm assigned to protect you." She put her gun away as she saw him.

"On whose order?" he demanded even as she noticed Fury lying injured on the ground.

"His." She knelt at his side, pulling a radio out. "Foxtrot is down, he's unresponsive. I need EMTs."

"Do you have a twenty on the shooter?" the voice called even as Steve noticed the shooter though the window.

"Tell them I'm in pursuit." Steve smashed through his window and ran after the assassin, Steve chased him through an office building, smashing through the walls, when he finally caught up with him on the roof he threw his shield at the assassin, but he caught it with one swift move, then threw it back to Steve and then jumped down the building and disappeared. Steve ran to the rood=f edge but there was nothing to see.

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Harry walked through the halls, hearing the shocked whispers. Fury was dead and had been shot in the Captains apartment. Harry had no doubt over who had orchestrated it. He knew he wouldn't be able to get Steve alone, but he had the updated flash drive to give him with everything Nimue had managed to find. All he had to do was to slip it to him and hope he'd find a time to read it.

He saw the elevator up ahead and glimpsed the shield, so he ran. "Hold the lift!" he called, and Steve did. Harry slid in and grinned. "Thanks. Lobby." He panted and leant against the glass. "You okay? Rumours are flying."

"Confirmed," the computer stated and began moving down.

"Yeah, I bet," Steve answered absently. They stopped at the next level and Rumlow stepped in with two other STRIKE agents.

"All STRIKE personal on site." Brock ordered them.

"Understood."

"Yes, sir."

"Forensics," Brock told the computer.

"Confirmed."

"Cap. Potter," he greeted them, glad that had been Potter's last mission with them. He was good, very good, but he wasn't one of them and he doubted the other male would willingly join Hydra.

"Rumlow," Steve answered, and Harry saluted lazily, glad to be off the team now. The elevator doors closed, and they started riding down.

"Evidence response found some fibres on the roof they want us to see. You want me to get the tac-team ready?"

"No, let's wait and see what it is first," Steve answered.

"Right," Brock agreed, and Steve noticed one of the agents touching his weapon suspiciously. The elevator stopped, and more SHIELD and STRIKE agents entered.

"What's the status so far?"

"Administrations level."

"Confirmed."

"Excuse me," The agent said after bumping Steve.

"Um...sorry about what happened with Fury. Messed up what happened to him," Brock commented, and Steve nodded.

"Thank you." Something felt off, he looked at the agents and noticed one was sweating. He glanced at Harry who looked at him and then the others, frowning. So, it looked like Harry didn't know what was going on either. The elevator stopped, and more agents entered.

"Records."

"Confirmed."

As the elevator doors closed Steve realised he'd been surrounded by agents. "Before we get started, does anyone want to get out?" he asked casually, and Harry straightened at his side, stance shifting to defend his left. It was good to know he had one person on his side. There was a moment's pause before suddenly one of the agents turned and used an electric rod to give Steve a shock, the others grabbed him and tried to strap his wrists with magnetic cuffs. Steve managed to knock some of them down, but one cuff remained, then Rumlow used his rod to give Steve a shock before being shoved back by a kick from Harry.

Sitwell sat in the control room watching them from a monitor. "Mobilize STRIKE units, 25th floor."

Steve managed to free himself from the magnetic cuff and knock all the agents down, he then turned to Rumlow who was struggling with Harry before tossing the smaller male down. "Woah, big guy. I just want you to know, Cap, this ain't personal," Rumlow then went to attack Steve with his electric rod but Harry kicked his legs out from under him and Steve slammed his head into the floor, knocking him out.

"Ouch," Harry grumbled as he got up, holding his ribs. "Being small sucks." That made Steve chuckle. "Who did you piss off?"

"It kind of feels personal," Steve told the unconscious body before looking back to Harry. He wanted to trust him, he had just fought beside him but there were a lot of coincidences around the young ex-soldier. "Pierce." Steve picked up his shield then opened the elevator doors to be faced by a team of STRIKE agents pointing their weapons at him.

"Drop the shield! Put your hands in the air!" Steve glanced at Harry who sighed and grabbed his hand, slipping him something.

"Read that ASAP, get clear of here fast," he ordered before launching himself at the other STRIKE members. "GO!" he yelled back at Steve who stared in shock before using his shield to break off the elevator wires which sent the elevator down until the emergency breaks kicked in. As he forced the doors open he saw more STRIKE agents approaching him, he closed the door and looked for a way out.

"Give it up, Rogers! Get that door open! You have nowhere to go!"

Steve broke through the glass in the elevator and plummeted down to finally hit the ground floor.

From his monitor Sitwell watched in shock as Steve got up and started running off. He looked at another screen to see three Agents down and Potter fighting furiously until he finally went down and was cuffed, quickly searched and his weapons removed before he was carried away. That could have gone a lot better, Potter was not the target, but he had to be contained or killed now for his interference. He was an excellent shooter, so he ordered containment, there were ways to deal with those reluctant to join them after all.

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Coulson, May, Skye, and Fitz were all inside the lab again, Grant back in his room, confusing Skye. May was on one side of the lab while Fitz was on the absolute other end as far as he could get. Coulson still had his gun on May as Skye worked at her laptop. "What do you mean, "noise"?"

"I mean literally noise, across every S.H.I.E.L.D. communication channel." She played it for them and it almost sounded like the feedback you'd get sending a fax or even an old school dial up modem. "Some sort of blanket signal."

"Encoded data, maybe?" Fitz offered, and she nodded.

"I think so."

Coulson looked at May. "You want to fill us in? We root you out, a mole, suddenly our plane shuts down, our communications jammed. "

May spoke through gritted teeth. "I don't know what's happening. I wish I did. You have to believe me."

"No, I don't."

Suddenly through the static a voice could be heard. Once is gets through they recognised the voice. "Do you read? Do you read 6-1-6?"

"Where's that coming from?" Fitz leant in to look over Skye's shoulder.

Skye hit a few keys on her laptop. "Close. "

"Enemy aircraft, on my tail. Over."

"Garrett?" Coulson called, hesitant now that he knew the truth of his old friend.

"Coulson, I'm under attack. Drones. Repeat, S.H.I.E.L.D. drones are on my ass. We're not getting along. Do you copy?

"Copy. Garrett, what's happening? We've lost control of our aircraft."

"Hell, if I know. Tell me you got guns on that thing. I'm coming to you," he warned.

Coulson looked down for a moment then up at May – he fired his gun. May let out a groan when the bullet hit her shoulder and sent her down to the ground. Skye and Fitz stared at him with large eyes but said nothing. "Fitz, can you manually wire the guns to weapons control, bypass our system?"

He continued to stare at May as he answered Coulson. "If I have cables long enough, yeah."

"Skye, decode the signal. We need to get ahead of this. I don't want any more surprises today," he ordered, and she bent over her laptop, getting to work as Fitz hurried to find cables. He looked at May before heaving her up and carrying her to the holding cell. He didn't want to think May was Hydra, but he couldn't take the chance, just like he couldn't let Garrett suspect he was on to him. He headed up and knocked, the door opening to reveal Ward. "Clean up, Garrett's on the way. Don't make me regret trusting you."

"I won't, Sir," Grant swore, moving to change and wash up a bit.

TBC…