Nick Fury, despite his associates' not-particularly-well-disguised contempt of his methods, was not a stupid man. He was, in fact, quite aware of the niceties of subtlety and subtext, and after how-too-damn-many years of dealing with Starks, his bullshit detection meter was off the charts besides.

In the country of the blind, he thought as he sat at his huge desk and contemplated his options, the one-eyed man is king… Never mind the fact that everyone around him always seemed to forget that glass reflects. Maria Hill had had her back turned when Rogers had dropped his little bombshell, yes, but she'd been facing the bloody window when she'd done it, and the wide smirk on her face – never particularly well disguised whenever the shit was about to hit his personal fan - had completely given whatever game that the Avengers thought they were playing away…. Fury had occasionally regretted the necessity of stringing his assistant along when she'd first joined up, but the predictable payoff there in terms of her resultant chronic inability to disguise her emotions around him on that personal level had certainly saved his ass more than once.

It was a pity that Banner's roses had had to pay the price – Fury himself still bore the scars from the thorns of his own long-ago offering - but there'd been a soft glow about her this morning – a green glow, he fancied – along with the smirk, so she'd obviously gotten past her aversion there. He took a moment to ponder how that would work, exactly before rediverting his own attention back to matters at hand.

Fury didn't believe for one second, of course, that Banner had been telling the truth on the subject of his cure. He and Stark weren't the only geniuses on SHIELD's payroll – or more accurately, Fury's payroll – nor even in their personal laboratories, and if there was a cure out there, however recent, he'd know about it. There was also the fact that Thor hadn't been there… Fury knew why, too. Thor, bless his noble blond-and-blue-eyed heart, however good in a fight, couldn't lie for shit. Rogers, he was discovering, had a natural talent for it, though his preternaturally prissy heart (Fury loved the kid, but God help him, he was so, so prissy) likely classified it as 'maintaining the balance on necessary informational flow' or somesuch whargarble.

Fury frowned and tapped his fingers on his desk. If that were all… If that were all… But it wasn't all. Coulson was in on it, and Fury had more respect (and fear) than was quite professionally decent for Phil Coulson. Raising him from the dead had been necessary, just as necessary as hiding his resultant resurrection from his friends, but being dead had …done… something to his right-hand-man's formerly-and-appropriately-deferential attitude, or perhaps it was (and oh, how Nick Fury hated to think on the uneasy possibility) down to his posthumous trip to Tahiti after all… Fury was, when it came right down to it, far more worried about Coulson's change in attitude than he was on Roger's rebellious little tantrum, or the Avengerific enablement he was receiving for his efforts. The Avengers, individually and collectively, were, for all their swagger and power and combined intellect…

Predictable.

Aliens were not.

Nick Fury contemplated his options for a long moment, his fingers tapping again, before turning his head and looking out the window. In the distance, Stark Tower waved back cheerily and blandly.

It was a "break glass in case of emergency" situation.

Yes, but that emergency was supposed to be the fall of an Avenger!

Exactly.

He'd meant it at the time. He had. He still did.

Nick Fury got to his feet and went to the window, examining his reflection. Tall, muscled, fit… Eye aside, the Infinity Formula still did the job. There was no denying it had the occasional unpleasant side-effects, and after nearly a century, he'd experienced them all, but for all and that, he'd never actually died. There was no telling what that kind of thing did to a man.

He'd meant it at the time. He still did.

And that… That was a problem.

Fury picked up his phone and started pressing buttons.