Nicholas Joseph Fury (furious_nick) wrote in oh_marvelous, @ 2010-03-21 09:53:00 |
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Entry tags: | z: om1: !complete, z: om1: character: nick fury, z: om1: character: tony stark, z: om1: location: avengers tower, z: om1: location: new york, z: om1: location: shield headquarters |
It's the moment of truth and the moment to lie.
Characters: Nick, the press, then Tony
Setting: SHIELD, then Stark Tower
Content: Nick Fury
Summary: Nick comes to tell Tony he is officially off the hook.
Nick stood at a podium in a meeting room in S.H.I.E.L.D., finally giving his long-expected press conference concerning the rogue Iron Man suit. He'd been harangued by questions and snide commentary for the past fifteen minutes and he felt like this damned circus would never end.
"Again," Fury explained with a long suffering sigh. "An Iron Man suit-"
"-But Mr. Fury!" a reporter interjected, "You just said that was Iron Man!" There were murmurs of bewilderment and agreement and Nick felt his patience quickly slipping.
"No," Nick corrected as calmly as he could manage, "I said it was an Iron Man, I didn't say it was the Iron Man. That wasn't Tony Stark. That was a terrorist in a metal suit. See, enemies will always want your technology and if they can get even a tidbit of , they'll build something stronger, faster, more dangerous. That Iron Man that shot a missile into that building and fought with the Avengers, was of H.Y.D.R.A. design. They wanted to wreak havoc and, more importantly, sow discord among the citizens of New York City and America. They want to make you doubt your heroes, but it is thanks to those very heroes- thanks to the Avengers and the X-Men- that the city is still standing. Yes, what happened is a tragedy. Yet, this tragedy might have been so much worse and because of super human intervention, it wasn't. S.H.I.E.L.D. in cooperation with the Maria Stark Foundation has set up a fund for the families of the victims," Nick finished and looked around, waiting for the next barrage.
"What about H.Y.D.R.A.? What does this mean now that they have Stark enterprises designs?" someone else asked and Nick quirked an eyebrow.
"Come on, son," he answered with a small chuckle, "you expect we've just sat back and done nothing about that? It's classified, but trust me, it's taken care of."
"Well where was Stark after the incident?" another reporter queried and Nick stared at the man as if he were a complete idiot.
"Up until recently he was working with us to take care of the very problem we just covered. Still classified. Next question." The next question was one which Nick had been dreading- where was Stark that day? Still, he had an answer ready and he hoped they believed it. He had signed affidavits and two hundred thousand dollars of his own money paid out in bribe to back it.
"Across the world, in a meeting in Southwest China with officials. They were discussing a new Stark innovation that would provide crops for the region. If you want more information on that, you'll have to go to a Stark Enterprises publicist." The meeting actually had taken place and several people were, with the right amount of cash, perfectly willing to attest to seeing Stark present at some point. "By the time Stark was en route, the damage was already done and the threat neutralized."
Nick fielded the rest of the questions as quickly as he could manage and left the rest of the conference up to Tony's own publicists and government representatives. That was it, Tony was off the hook. Nick had talked down the press, talked the feds out of investigation, and talked lawyers out of taking Stark to trial. There would be no criminal charges, no execution. Nothing but personal accountability. It had been a busy few weeks but the press and public was the last and worst hurdle.
Now it was just a matter of telling Tony and Fury certainly didn't relish the task. Given his condition lately, Fury couldn't be sure how grateful Tony would be and whether or not Nick would be able to stop himself from smacking him upside the head. The recovering alcoholic Tony Stark was incorrigible. Inebriated self-absorbed Tony Stark was absolutely unbearable and Nick's patience was already running low. Nonetheless he went, walking across the plaza and up to the Avengers tower and requesting a meeting with Tony, immediately.