Artemis (A Steve Rogers Story)

2-Keep On Steppin'

Once back in Washington, Steve and I head straight back to the Triskelion, the SHEILD headquarters to get answers from our director.  "Why am I not surprise that you have told me more lies Nicholas" I say as Steve and I enter the directors office.

"I didn't lie, Agent Romanoff had a different mission than you two" he says back to me.
"Which you didn't feel obliged to share" Steve adds as we get over to Nick's desk.
"I'm not obliged to do anything" Nick says turning to face the two of us.

"I was once your superior, so technically you are. Those hostages you sent us to rescue could have ended up dying Nicholas" I tell him anger in my voice.
"I sent the greatest soldier and archer in history to make sure that didn't happen. And If I remember you stepped down from being my superior." Nick says looking at me.
"Soldiers trust each other, that's what makes it an army. Not a bunch of guys running around shooting guns" Steve then says to him.

Nick then stands up and looks at me, "Last time I trusted someone I lost an eye" he says refereeing our encounter with Carol Danvers so many years ago.  "Look, I didn't want you two doing anything you weren't comfortable with. Agent Romanoff is comfortable with everything" he adds.
"We can't lead a mission, when the people we are try to lead have missions of their own" Steve says to him.

"It's called compartmentalization. Nobody spills the secrets, because nobody knows them all" Nick then says to Steve.
"Except you know them, just like you knew Steve was alive yet you kept me in the dark" I say to him, "I'm starting to re think having you as the Director" I remark to me.

"You are both wrong about me" Nick says looking at the two of us, "I do share. I'm nice like that" he adds as he walks out of the room, and we follow him heading for a elevator. He steps inside, and the two of us follow, "Insight Bay" he says to the computer system.

"Captain Rogers and Agent Harper do not have clearance for Project Insight" the computer replies as the door closes behind us.
"Director override, Fury, Nicholas J" Nick says to the system.
"Confirmed" the computer replies and the elevator starts moving.
"You know they used to play music" Steve then says after a few minutes of silence.

"Yeah my grandfather operated one of these things for 40 years" Nick then says to him, "My granddad worked in a nice building, got good tips. He'd walk home every night, a roll of ones stuffed in his lunch bag. He'd say 'Hi', people would say 'Hi' back. Time went on the neighborhood got rougher, he'd say 'Hi', they'd say 'Keep on steppin'. Granddad got to gripping that lunch bag a little tighter" he explains to us.

"Did he ever got mugged?" Steve asks him.
Nick chuckles at this, "Ever week some punk would say 'What's in the bag?" he tells us.
"What did he do?" I then asks.
"He'd show 'em, bunch of crippled ones, and a loaded .22 magnum" he says to me, "Yeah Granddad loved people. But he didn't trust them very much" he adds as he steps away and Steve and I turn around looking out the glass of the elevator, seeing where he was bringing us. We both look out the glass surprised at what we were seeing, "yeah, I know, they're a little bit bigger than a .22" he says as the elevator continues down. We see in front of us massive weaponized helicarrers.

The elevator comes to a stop and the three of us step off, "This is Project Insight, three next-generation helicarriers, synced to a network of targeting satellites" Nick explains as we follow him through the hanger.
"Launched from the Lemurian Star" Steve says.
"Once we get them in the air, they never need to come down. Continues sub-orbital flight, courtesy of our new repulser engines" Nick says pointing to the engines.

"Tony" I say to him.
"He had a few suggestions, once he got an up-close look at our old turbines" he says referring to what had happened to the old helicarrier when Loki attacked it. "These new long-range precision guns can eliminate 1,000 hostiles a minute. The satellites can read a terrorist's DNA before he steps outside his spider hole" Nick says as we stand on a moving platform, "We're gonna neutralize a lot of threats before they even happen" he continues telling us.