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Wakanda was beautiful, but hot. Nick started sweating as soon as he stepped outside the air conditioned plane, but he’d been in enough uncomfortable situations over the course of his life that keeping a straight face was no big deal. He willingly submitted to the search that the Dora Milaje insisted upon, spreading his legs and arms and allowing them to pat him down. He had one gun, which he had already logged and was therefore allowed to keep.
He was then permitted entry into the castle. It was the first time that anyone from SHIELD had actually been inside. He’d tried to get spies into Wakanda before, curious about the country with the world’s only source of vibranium, but with no success. The country was notoriously wary of outsiders, and anyone who came from Wakanda was tight-lipped. Details were scarce, and Fury tried to notice and memorize as much as he could as he was lead to the throne room.
“Good afternoon,” King T’Challa said when Fury entered the room. “I understand you seek an audience with me, Director Fury.”
“Not with you, exactly,” Fury replied. “But with some fugitives you’re harboring.” Unlike some dignitaries, who preferred to be handheld and sweet-talked, from what Fury had learned about King T’Challa, the man would appreciate a straightforward approach.
T’Challa did not react. “I’m not sure who you are referring to.”
“I think you do,” Fury said, maintaining eye contact. He was not here to get T’Challa or Wakanda into trouble with the law. He was pretty sure that the aforementioned fugitives would, at some point, do that just fine on their own. T’Challa was a smart enough man to know that, with a few words dropped into the right ears, Fury could’ve brought the United Nations down on Wakanda already. Since Fury had come alone, there was something else at play.
“Leave us,” T’Challa said at last, referring to his advisors. There was a low murmur, though Fury couldn’t tell if it was disgruntled or not. He stood aside as the room gradually emptied, until only T’Challa, two women with a close familial ressemblance that had to be related to him, and four Dora Milaje were all that remained.
Only then did T’Challa looked back at Fury. His expression was closed off. “Why are you here?”
It was time to stop beating around the bush. “Captain Rogers almost killed someone who I care about. I want to make sure that he realizes the extent of what he’s done. I have the feeling that he and the rest of his little group are sitting around patting themselves on the back, thinking that it’s only a matter of time until they’re welcomed back to the United States with open arms. That’s not going to happen.”
“You’re right,” said the younger of the two women. She crossed her arms. “They sit around and gloat all day.”
“Shuri!” T’Challa said.
Shuri glared at him. “Well, it’s true! I’m getting sick of listening to them.”
Fury liked her. “One conversation,” he said to T’Challa. “That’s all I ask.”
“How did you find out they were here?” T’Challa asked.
“I protect my sources, your highness. I give you my word that no one will find out their location from me,” Fury said. He did not add that it was only a matter of time before Rogers gave himself away. Rogers seemed to be physically incapable of doing anything on a small scale, and he thought too much of himself to stay cooped up in Wakanda for long.
T’Challa was quiet for a moment, staring hard at Fury, before he finally nodded. “Very well. I will keep you at your word, Director. Okoye, would you please show him to his destination?”
One of the Dora Milaje, a tall woman with a no-nonsense glare, stepped forward. She walked past Fury, who bowed to T’Challa and then turned to follow her. She didn’t speak to Fury, who was willing to maintain the silence in lieu of memorizing the route they were taking. Rogers’s group, he realized, were housed as far away from T’Challa and his family as possible. He smirked to himself, wondering if there was a deliberate reason for that. Perhaps T’Challa found them as annoying as Shuri did.
“I will wait here,” Okoye said, once they’d reached a large set of double doors. “When you are finished, I will escort you back to your plane.”
Fury looked straight at her. “And if you hear gunshots?”
Okoye’s smile was thin. “I am honor-bound to protect the throne of Wakanda,” she said. “And only the throne.”
“I like you too,” Fury said. He had no plans to actually shoot anyone, but that didn’t mean he didn’t want to.
He pushed open the doors and walked inside. To his annoyance, no one in the room acknowledged his presnce right away. Romanov, Barton, Rogers, Wilson, Lang and Maximoff were all preoccupied with the television, which was showing a summary of everything that had happened over the past two months. Information was becoming scarce, so the media was grasping at any tidbit that came along.
“One moment, your highness,” Rogers said without looking away from the screen. Fury’s annoyance increased. Evidently Rogers thought himself too good to even react appropriately with royalty.
“I’m no king,” Fury said coldly. That got a reaction, at least. Rogers, Barton and Romanov all shot up, varying expressions of excitement lighting their faces. But once Romanov got a good look at him, her face smoothed out and she eased back a step. She knew he was pissed.
“Fury!” Rogers said. “Out of everyone, I wasn’t expecting you to be the one who came to tell us.”
“Tell you what?” Fury asked.
“That we’re welcome back home, of course. There’s been nothing on the television about our pardons, but I knew it was only a matter of time until people figured out what really happened.”
“Which is?”
“Bucky is innocent,” Rogers said earnestly. As though that was the only thing that mattered. Fury stared at him and then looked around the room, half-expecting someone else to grasp the level of bullshit that he was dealing with. His gaze lingered briefly on Maximoff and he felt his anger swell. It was time to pop the bubble of Rogers’s delusions.
“There is no pardon, Rogers. Frankly, there never will be.”
Rogers blinked. “Wait, what?”
“You evaded arrest. In the span of three days, you put three dozen people in the hospital. Five of them died. Two were police officers.”
“They were trying to arrest Bucky!” Rogers said defensively. It was obvious he’d heard about this on the news and had somehow justified it in his mind.
“That’s right. They were trying to arrest a fugitive,” Fury growled. “They were doing their jobs.”
“Bucky was innocent!”
“Really, Rogers? Barnes didn’t help trash an airport and cause millions of dollars worth of damage? He didn’t participate in stealing a plane? He didn’t set off a grenade that killed two people and injured dozens more?”
Rogers opened his mouth and then closed it. Weakly, he said, “Bucky thought they might be Hydra.”
Fury snorted. “That is the weakest damn excuse I’ve ever heard. Putting aside everything the Winter Soldier has done, Barnes has still done plenty to put himself in prison. And even if a jury didn’t find him guilty by reason of insanity, that’s no excuse for the rest of you. Especially you. If you’d really wanted to help your friend, you would’ve encouraged him to work with law enforcement.”
“They were going to arrest him!”
“Which is what you do with futigives,” Fury snapped. “That’s what you do with murderers.” He included Maximoff in his glare. She puffed up like an offended peacock.
“I haven’t murdered anyone!”
“Correction, you’ve killed several people,” Fury said.
“That was an accident.”
“Oh really? It was an accident when you killed people while you were learning to use your powers?” Fury said sweetly. She froze and he smiled. “That’s right. My people came across some of the files that Hydra kept on you. You weren’t born knowing how to use your powers, Maximoff. You tortured people. The lucky ones, you killed. The unlucky ones were left as drooling vegetables after you tore apart their minds. All with the purpose of learning how to mind rape them, of course.” He looked pointedly back at Rogers and Romanov.
“That’s n-not –” Maximoff sputtered. “I thought it was SHIELD!”
Fury gave her a look of disbelief. “That’s bullshit and we both know it. SHIELD may have interrogation tactics that are not legally sanctioned, but we do not condone outright torture for the sake of torture. Especially not on innocent civilains. And you can’t tell me, and expect me to believe, that you didn’t know those people were innocent. You were in their damn heads!”
Maximoff sputtered again. Uselessly, this time.
“But that’s not what I’m here. Not even to officially inform Barton and Romanov that they are no longer SHIELD agents, or to inform Wilson that the military has dishonorably discharged him and really want to talk to him, or to tell Lang that Pym Technologies has formally reported the Ant Man suit as stolen.” Fury ignored the choked sounds and stammering coming from those four and swung back to focus on Rogers.
“Why I’m really here is to tell you that if you ever lay a hand on Tony Stark again, I will kill you. And if Tony dies, there is no force on this Earth that will save your ass.”
Rogers just stared at him, confusion written all over his face. “Dies? What?”
“Oh my god,” Barton said. “Is Stark really trying to play the sympathy card now? After everything?”
The resulting surge of pure rage could not have been put into words. Fury spat, “Tony can’t play any cards, Barton. He’s in a coma.”
“What?” Romanov exclaimed, stepping forward. “How?! What happened? We haven’t seen anything on the news!”
“No, you wouldn’t. Potts has been striving to keep it quiet with limited success. As to how…” Fury looked back at Rogers. He kept his voice ice cold. “Let me give you a quick lesson on how humans work, Rogers. When a super soldier slams a vibranium shield into the chest of a normal human, it tends to do some damage.”
“You hit Tony with the shield?” Romanov turned on Rogers, looking incensed.
“He attacked Bucky!” Rogers said, holding his hands up to stop her. “I had to!”
“That’s not the whole story, is it?” Fury said. He enjoyed the brief flash of panic coming from Rogers. “The Winter Soldier murdered Tony’s parents. Zemo showed Tony the footage of it happening. Rogers knew and didn’t bother to tell Tony beforehand.”
“It wasn’t Bucky!” Rogers roared. It sounded like something he’d said repeatedly.
The room had become very quiet. Finally, Wilson said shakily, “Tell me you didn’t say that to Stark.”
“But – it – it wasn’t!” Rogers said feebly. It wasn’t a denial, and they all knew it. Wilson looked revolted.
Romanov was looking even more enraged. “So you – what? You hit him with the shield?!”
“I was just trying to get him to stop. He wouldn’t stop attacking. I told him to stay down and he wouldn’t. So I smashed the reactor to make the suit stop working,” Rogers said. He looked around, as though certain everyone would understand that: Maximoff actually nodded supportively. Fury’s hand twitched towards his gun but he stopped himself. He still had more to say.
“You smashed the arc reactor so the suit wouldn’t work and then walked away, took your jet and left. Never gave Tony a second thought, I bet. Pray tell me, what did you think would happen when you then abandoned a normal human in Siberia with no way of calling for help?”
“H-He was fine when we left!”
“Did you bother to check?” Fury asked, knowing the answer. “Tony had a heart attack when you hit him with that shield. By the time that Vision found him, he was almost dead. Vision managed to get him to medical help, but Tony hasn’t woken up since and frankly the doctors aren’t sure that he ever will.”
Rogers stood back; again, his mouth opened and closed wordlessly. His face was white. Fury glanced at the others to see their reaction. Romanov and Lang looked openly horrified. Wilson was obviously trying to control himself, but Fury could see straight through him. It was Barton and Maximoff that concerned him most. Barton’s face was neutral, but Maximoff had a hint of a smile on her face.
“I’m not here to stand around and give you a lecture on taking advantage of people. Frankly, had I known then what I know, I never would’ve invited any of you to join the Avengers. You’re not a team,” Fury said.
“We didn’t take advantage,” Barton said. “Stark got us all thrown in jail. It’s too bad that he’s in a coma, but –”
“I’m gonna stop you right there, Barton. You have no leg to stand on. You were retired. You weren’t an Avenger or a SHIELD agent! Yet you still assisted in helping someone escape house arrest, avoiding arrest, property destruction… the list goes on. You deserve to be in jail. You don’t get to break the law and then ignore the consequences!”
“Not unless you have money,” Barton sneered.
Fury snapped. In a handful of long strides, he’d reached Barton and grabbed Barton’s collar, yanking him in. “You should be fucking grateful for Tony’s money,” he seethed. “Your family sure is.”
Barton froze. “My family?”
“Tony left detailed instructions with FRIDAY about what to do for your family if something happened. Your family is currently in a safe location, out of the reach of Ross or any of the other numerous enemies that you have. They’re safe, but it’s sure as hell no thanks to you.” Fury released Barton, shoving him away.
“Hey!” Maximoff said. Her hands lit with red light.
“Don’t even start,” Fury snapped. “I know exactly what you can do. Why the hell anyone in this room ever trusted you is beyond me.”
“That’s what SHIELD does,” Romanov said. She sounded a bit wooden, but she still met his gaze. “You took me on.”
Fury actually laughed. “Romanov, we took you on as an agent after a full year of you hanging around headquarters. If you recall, you had to attend several sessions with a psychologist. And Coulson was assigned as your full time handler. He had strict instructions to put you down if you lost control or went AWOL.” He glared at her. “Were you prepared to put Maximoff down when she lost control and killed dozens of people?”
Romanov had no answer for that, as Fury had known she wouldn’t. He shook his head in disdain. “You people are pathetic, you know that? You never should’ve been left in control of the Avengers. You don’t know what the fuck you’re doing.”
“That’s not true,” Rogers said, apparently having recovered enough to speak. His face flushed now. “I’m sorry about Tony, but you can’t blame us for everything.”
“Tony messed up, but there’s a hell of a big difference between him and you. Tony messed up because he wants to hold everyone to the same standards he holds himself to,” Fury growled. “You messed up because you think you can do whatever the fuck you want and not have to face any consquences for it. What was it you said? The safest hands are your own?”
“I stand by that!”
“I’m sure you do. But who exactly were you talking about? Barnes? He’s a wanted fugitive and everyone knows he’s the Winter Soldier. Yourself? You’re going down. So is everyone in this room. It’s a matter of time.”
“The accords had an agenda!” Rogers snapped. “We couldn’t trust –”
“Bull fucking shit,” Fury said. “Had you bothered to read the accords, you’d know that. You should really look into them someday.” He leaned in. He was not afraid of Steve Rogers. “You’ve never been held accountable, Rogers. First the military covered up your mistakes. Then SHIELD. Then Tony. You’ve never had to face any consequences. You’ve never had someone look you in the eye and accuse you of not saving their child.
“That stops now. Last time someone tried to hold you accountable with the Accords, you threw a tantrum and Tony stepped in to mitigate everything so that you got away. You won’t get to do that a second time. The law will catch up with you and you will be punished to the full extent of it.”
“Is that a threat?” Rogers said.
“It’s a promise.” Fury took a step back, feeling that his point had been made. “And if any of you ever come around Tony Stark again, it won’t be the law that catches you. It will be me, or Potts, or Rhodes. I guarantee that you will not like our consequences.”
“Why do you care?” Barton burst out. “You hate Stark!”
“I never said that.”
“But you said –”
“What I said,” Fury interrupted, “was that Tony wasn’t my ideal version of a superhero. I stand by that.” It was the truth. The world didn’t deserve someone like Tony Stark. He cared too much and had nearly died giving everything that he had. Still might die, and didn’t that thought send a new rush of enraged grief through Fury.
Even after everything, it was hard to reconcile the pale, quiet man laying in a hospital bed with the shy, sweet child who had so determinedly followed Edwin Jarvis around the house.
“The world needs us,” Rogers said, quiet but confident. It was too reminiscent of Romanov’s cocky words to Congress. They all thought they were irreplaceable.
“No, it doesn’t. What the world needs is someone who cares about more than just Bucky Barnes,” Fury said. “Or their own personal vendetta. There are other heroes out there who will step up. We don’t need you.”
He looked each of them in the face one more time, just to make sure his message had truly sunk in, before he turned on his heel and stalked out of the room. Romanov came after him. Right before Fury would’ve slammed the door, she caught up to him, shoulders squared like she was preparing for battle.
“Is Tony really that sick?” she asked.
“What do you care?”
Romanov jerked back as if he’d slapped her. “Tony is my –”
“Don’t,” Fury snarled. After watching that video – Zemo had recorded Tony’s reaction to the footage and the subsequent battle. Apparently he’d planned to release the footage to the world to drive the final nail through the coffin of the Avengers. Thank god that hadn’t happened; Tony was to be spared that indignity, at least. FRIDAY’s deepest, darkest servers held the only copy.
But it had made Fury sick to watch. Sick to think that those who had helped to build SHIELD up, like Agent Peggy Carter, had probably known exactly what happened to Howard Stark. Sick to realize that the answers had been at his own fingertips all along, but he had never bothered to properly investigate. Sick to think that Tony had grown up, grown old, thinking that his drunk of a father had killed his mother, and only found out after being betrayed by his father’s hero.
Someone he’d thought was a friend.
“You were never his friend, Romanov. I should know. I was the one who planted you there. Whatever else you may have been, the Avengers were never friends.” He held up a hand when she went to argue. “And even if you believe you were, you made your choice. You’re still making it.” He looked around meaningfully.
Her jaw set, lips pressing together. She crowded in, trying to intimidate him. “Steve needs me right now. He was right. The world needs Captain America.”
Fury had it. He pulled his gun, pressing it to her ribs, and she went still as he hissed, “Keep telling yourself that, but you should know that the world has no use for so-called superheroes who act, don’t think about the consequences, and then don’t want to face up to them. Or did you think I’d forget about the fact that you and Rogers dumped all of the SHIELD files on the internet?”
Romanov flinched. It was subtle, but there. “We exposed Hydra. It was necessary.”
“Necessary. I’ll be sure to tell that to the grieving families left behind,” Fury said. He wanted to slap her. “Or didn’t you think about the hundreds of undercover agents beforehand? You know, the ones who were immediately murdered because they were compromised? Tony and I saved who we could, but your hands are far more red now than they ever were before.” He decided she didn’t deserve to know about Coulson, who had also worked tirelessly to help.
She didn’t have an answer to that, just stared at him defiantly. It reminded him of a child who’d been caught in a lie. He shook his head. “Everything I said stands for all of you. Stay the hell away from Tony. We’re done.”
He pulled his gun away and turned his back on her, dismissing her: she wouldn’t dare attack, not when she didn’t have a weapon and both of them knew he was more than capable of kicking her ass. Okoye stepped over to join him. Her face was blank, but her eyes were glittering in a way that strongly suggested she’d heard every word and was deeply amused or satisfied by whatever Fury had said.
“Shall I show you to your plane?” she said.
“Please,” Fury said. They walked away from Romanov together, and Fury vowed not to give any of the old Avengers another thought unless he could help it. He hadn’t been lying: there were other heroes popping up by the day, all of them far more worthy in Fury’s opinion. Regardless of whether Rogers and his band ended up dead or in prison, so long as they stayed away from Tony Stark, Fury didn’t care.
They had a world to save.