FORTY-FOUR

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Lottie watched Nick with cautious eyes

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Lottie watched Nick with cautious eyes. She sat in the passengers seat of his armored truck, watching him as he kept his eyes focused on the road ahead of them as they headed into the city.

"Activating communications encryption protocol," the AI of the car told them, and Lottie raised an eyebrow at the man beside her.

"Something got you nervous or-"

"SHIELD has been compromised,"

Lottie's eyes widened as she turned fully in her seat, but Fury never looked over once.

"Excuse me?"

"I need people I can trust, and you're one of them," Fury told her, stealing just a single glance in her direction. "SHIELD is compromised. I don't know on what level, but something isn't right."

"Project Insight," Lottie whispered, and Fury gave her an affirming nod. She swallowed the lump in her throat, sitting back in her seat and keeping her eyes on the road. "So it could just be one person?"

"Yeah, but I'm willing to bet that it isn't," the pair locked eyes one more time. "Open secure line zero-four-zero-five."

"Confirmed," the AI said as the communication systems kicked on.

"This is Hill," the familiar voice came through the car.

"Watson is in the car," Fury told her. "I need you here in D.C. Deep shadow conditions."

"Deep shadow?" Lottie questioned, but was ignored by the two.

"Give me four hours,"

"You have three, over," the line clicked off as Fury looked over at Lottie again. "There's a lot going on, a lot I can't explain right now. I'm going to need you to trust me."

Lottie only gave a nod of her head. This man sitting beside her was the one who created the Avengers, created the team to help save the world. If he said SHIELD was compromised, she'd trust his word on it.

Their car pulled to a stop at the next stoplight. Both Fury and Lottie looked over through the driver's side window, seeing a cop car pulled up beside them. Lottie's senses were going haywire as she looked at them, the two cops inside intently looking at the pair in the car.

With a pounding in her head, Lottie was involuntarily launched into a vision.


His hair was long and dark, the bottom of his face covered with a black. Lottie's eyes widened as she looked at him, his eyes piercing into her soul even from so far away. But something was pulling at the back of her mind, something wasn't right about him; he seemed familiar.

The moment was gone not long after, the armored vehicle that Lottie and Fury were in flying through the air upside down, the man in the mask watching from the sidelines intently.

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