Nick Fury (seeswithboth) wrote in avengers_logs, @ 2019-05-21 13:06:00 |
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Entry tags: | -backdated, -complete, natasha romanoff, nick fury |
Who: Nick and Nat
What: Nat makes sure nu!SHIELD is on the up and up
When: A few weeks ago
Rating: Green
Nick sat behind his desk, feet up, as he contemplated the curry bun in his hand. When he'd taken the office building, he knew he hadn't needed much: a space to train, a 'war room', and a few offices for himself and Bobbi.
And now it seemed that his team was slowly growing or rather, had the potential to grow.
He'd have to talk to Stark again. Sigh.
Many of his old allies were back. He just didn't know where they were at with things. Nat, in particular. Clint, well -- Nick knew where Clint stood. And that was as far away from Nick as possible. Nick tried not to take that personally ...but it was still hard.
But the others: Barnes. Vision. Banner. Carol. Lewis. Falcon. Even that new doctor he saw had joined their forces. What side would they go to? Or were there even sides anymore? It was hard to figure out. He knew the Avengers had always had more people, which was fine, especially now, working together the way they were. He was currently thinking about this, eating his bun, staring out the window into the city before when Nat showed up.
Natasha had meant to drop by the new office sooner than this but had gotten carried away with readjusting to this universe and catching up with old and new friends alike. When she walked up to the door, she thought she must’ve written the address down wrong because the building was a bakery of some kind. There were display cases filled with pastries of all kinds. Donuts, kolaches, buns containing various fillings, and more were everywhere.
She pulled the door open and stepped inside to look the place over. Everything looked like it should. A few tables and chairs were arranged artfully to allow people to eat there if they wanted. There was a drink case with an assortment of beverages. The woman behind the counter smiled at her and continued to putter around with whatever she’d already been doing before Natasha stepped inside.
Natasha wandered along the display cases, checking out the offerings and casing the place. Something didn’t feel right. The lady behind the counter was keeping Natasha in her line of sight and carried entirely too much tension in her stance. Was she expecting something to happen? Or guarding something?
She stepped up to the counter and ordered a glazed donut, a bbq bun, and a raspberry sweet roll along with a drink. While she was paying, Natasha noticed a small tray close to the register that had pastries she recognized well. She pointed at them. “I’ll take one of those too. And if you’d please pass along my compliments to the baker, I’d appreciate it,” she said then smiled sweetly.
Yes, this place was a cover. A damn good cover and perfect for Fury that is if anyone else knew about the inside joke. Now she just needed to wait for Fury to come to her and give her the official tour.
Fury knew when Nat came in, due to the security monitors. Pushing a button on his desk, he knew it would flash downstairs and the lady at the front would allow Nat to go through the back door. Although he enjoyed the subterfuge, he knew that this couldn’t last forever. It worked well when he barely had people coming and going but as his operation grew bigger and bigger … he was long overdue for a conversation with Tony about logistics moving forward. That kept playing in his mind.
Nat would be able to go in through the elevator now, going upstairs where she will be greeted by a boring looking office. Bobbi was somewhere, probably on a call. He was glad he had appointed her co-director, even if at times, if felt like there there were only the two of them.
He’d be happy to see Nat though.
Natasha was nonplussed as she was gestured to go through the back and into a waiting elevator. She took out one of her donuts and nibbled at it while the elevator ascended. A boring looking office with all the beige and taupe and slightly accents of dark gray greeted her when she stepped out. The front desk was empty, but that wasn’t too surprising. It was probably already enough of a stretch employing the lady downstairs. There wasn’t a need for more people or a more secure setup yet.
She walked past the desk toward what she assumed would be a hallway that lead to Fury’s office. To her unsurprise, there were two hallways unhelpfully unlabeled. She mentally panned over the building in her mind’s eye and chose the left hallway. The one that most likely would give Fury all the windows to peer out of in his office.
And she’d be right. “Down here,” he called when he heard her boots on the floor. Bringing his feet down from the desk, he brushed his hands on his feet and gave one one of his barely-there smiles when he saw her.
“Black Widow. Welcome to my humble SHIELD.” He kind of gave a laugh and a shrug at the same time, as an apology of sorts. It was a long way away from the past set up, but it worked. “Offices, a training space, and a bakery downstairs. I haven’t heard any complaints as of yet.”
Natasha finished off her donut then brushed her hands off before pushing through the door. She smiled back at him. “This is familiar.” She took a look around and it was definitely bare bones but all things had to start from somewhere.
She closed the door behind her then moved to sit down in the chair in front of his desk. “Bakery downstairs was a nice touch.” She glanced at his computer and it wasn’t Stark tech but that might just be a disguise on it. She still wasn’t sure how far that cooperative thing between Fury and Tony went. “So, shall we cut to the chase?”
The bakery was a nice touch. And when he was working late, he could go downstairs and prep, cook, whatever he needed to do. The owners would then sell it as a special the next day, and it let him keep his hands busy while he tried to process things. It was a good relationship. Nick was happy that Tony had suggested this building.
And paid for the building. And everything else.
“Let’s.” Nick put his feet down, along with his food and clasped his hands on the desk. Gone was Nick -- now he was Director Fury, and with that came the entire body language change. It was subtle, but obvious. “I have a skeleton crew, but who I have, I trust. Bobbi Morse, she’s been here since the beginning, and she’s my right-hand. I appointed her co-Director, and she helps with building contacts, getting those outside agents for when we need them... “ He looked directly at her. If she had been here since then, maybe it would have been her job.
“I’ve had several yous. Clints. Guardians. A few Agents. Bobbi’s the only one who has been the same. One thing though, is we’ve cut down on any outside help. I’ve only had a few recruits come through, but mainly for training purposes. We don’t put them on anything important. I’ve learned that we need to keep our people small, and tight. Only those I trust. Tony and I have an agreement...well, Tony, Pepper and I. We transfer information and knowledge. We work together. Avengers are heavy hitters. We’re spies. There’s roles for us all. I’m not stopping anyone from working with Steve, and I’m not stopping anyone from working with me. What matters is that the world continues to be safe, and that’s all that fucking matters.”
He raised his brow. “I’m not saying we’re impenetrable. But what I’m saying is HYDRA shouldn’t be a problem for us. Not internally. Not again.”
Natasha simply shrugged at the implication. It wasn’t like she had any control over that and this way she could be on both teams without it having a detrimental effect on either side. She nodded at the talk of working with Tony. She’d been surprised but now it made infinitely more sense and would help them all stay on the same side of things. “Of course. I’m tired of all the trouble that seems to happen right under my nose.” And without her knowledge. She’d joined the original SHIELD to balance the books and she hoped she hadn’t simply unbalanced them further due to HYDRA’s presence within it.
“Good. That’s a mistake I think we’d all rather not repeat.” She tapped her fingers against the arm of the chair. “So...when I first appeared in this universe, I had a talk with Tony and we both seemed to be on the same page with me being a liaison between you and the Avengers. Is that feasible?” She sighed. “I know Steve seems a little upset about the idea, but it worked for the most part last time. I don’t see why it can’t work now.”
“I don’t have a problem with that.” And he really didn’t. Again, they were supposed to be working together. “The Guardians are basically contractors, and thank fuck because I would not do well having Quill around all the time. Or the Destroyer. They can keep to themselves, thanks.”
He stuck out a hand and gave a cryptic smile. “Do we have a deal? I’m planning on hosting a team meeting soon enough. Have the crew meet each other formally.”
Aside from the brief conversation she’d had with Quill on the Network, she hadn’t dealt with any of the Guardians. That was probably for the best. Natasha took Fury’s hand in a firm grip and shook it. “We have a deal. We’ll figure out the logistics of my reporting as we go along. It should be simple enough.”