Prologue

Author's Note:: Welcome to my story. This whole premise is based on something Tony Stark said about Fury in Avengers: "His secrets have secrets." I don't know about you, but I was really curious about what that could mean, and the result of my curiosity was this story. Anyway, this chapter mainly serves as the background, so if you don't feel like reading cleverly written exposition, you can skip to the next chapter. Please, let me know what you think, and more importantly, enjoy!

Nick Fury's secrets have secrets.

For instance, he was one of the few aware of the World Security Council's orders to begin the E.P.I.C.S. Effort (Exploration of Projects to Impede Celestial Sabotage) directly after the whole Chitauri Debacle.

The endeavor was officially born out of "hesitations regarding the effectiveness of Phase 2" or, more accurately, hesitations regarding the effectiveness of Phase 2 after Thor took their main power source with him to another world. EPICS was supposed to generate more effective and efficient deterrents and immediate response strategies to inhibit alien attacks. Of course,many of the "innovative ideas" were born out of the ashes of old projects that had burned out for various reasons.

It was from this secret, that another, more important one arose: SHIELD was putting the majority of their hope (and time and resources) into the resurrection of Project P.I.E.C.E.S. PIECES (or thePursuit of Intelligence Essential to Critical Extraterrestrial Situations) centered around developing the ultimate deterrent, christened the Perditrix. The initial attempt to develop the Perditrix had ended after the World Security Council determined the device had "an unnecessary amount force for any conflicts in the foreseeable future" and was therefore a "gross misallocation of resources." Fury took issue with the word "foreseeable,' but had been directed to let the project die. It being early enough in his career for him to still feel obliged to follow orders, he did as he was told. Nineteen years later, now that they needed to revive PIECES, the creator and head scientist on the project was dead. Dr. Kendrick's death had been an "unforeseeable tragedy." Go figure.

Due to Fury's careful nature and tendency to prepare for the unknown, SHIELD at least had possession of the journal Dr. Kendrick kept his notes in while originally working on the project. Unfortunately, due to the fact that paranoia ran rampant in SHIELD's ranks, the journal was written in a code known only to the doctor.

It was discovered within a few weeks of working with the journal that around half of the formulas Dr. Kendrick had written were not formulas at all but names. Some were very clearly first names. Some were very clearly last names. A whole mess could be either. It also remained unclear if these names were tied to specific theories or researchers or random people who somehow inspired Dr. Kendrick. It was taking more time and energy deciphering these formulas than any had anticipated, and even more effort to search out the various leads with the identity of each name becoming more secrets for Nick Fury to carry.

But those weren't the only secrets surrounding Project PIECES. One arrived at the facility's doorstep about a month ago, when SHIELD had started to really make headway on the project. It arrived in the form of a rather imposing looking alien who thankfully still went down when shot with multiple Phase 2 tasers which Fury had technically disposed after the Chitauri Incident. It became clear after a few interrogation sessions that somehow in the few short months that PIECES had been underway, word had reached space about the device, and he had been sent to acquire the Perditrix. Another unforeseeable circumstance.

However, the most pressing secret on Nick Fury's mind was one that had reached him a little less than half an hour ago. And it was this one that brought him back to the secret base near Cima, California, a little more annoyed than he'd been when he left two weeks earlier.