A safe house was something every top-level agent possessed.
It contained everything an agent might need—new identification, passports, and various other documents. It was an agent's final lifeline.
Normally, the existence of a safe house was not to be shared with anyone. Only the agent themself could know about it. It was a last resort.
But tonight, Director Nick Fury, the head of the shadowy world of espionage, actually brought Coulson and Natasha—who had just returned from Lu Yi's home—into one of his safe houses in the middle of the night. He completely ignored the rule that a safe house must never be exposed!
"The situation is exactly as I told you, Director," Coulson said, standing before Nick Fury.
After leaving Lu Yi's home with the intel they needed, Coulson and Natasha had gone straight to Fury's residence and secretly broken in.
They hadn't wanted things to go that way—breaking into their superior's home was rude and reckless. Their boss might remember it and make their lives miserable later.
But the situation was too serious, and S.H.I.E.L.D. itself was in danger. They had no choice but to bypass everyone and infiltrate Fury's residence covertly.
Though simple in words, the actual process was… complicated. Fury was the king of spies—his home wasn't something one could break into easily.
They were discovered the moment they slipped inside, and Fury almost killed them.
Fortunately, once he saw it was the two of them, he refrained from pulling the trigger.
The process was chaotic, but the outcome was good.
Fury trusted the two of them deeply. After hearing they had urgent business, he thought for a moment and decided to bring them to this safe house. Coulson then proceeded to tell Fury almost everything he knew.
And why "almost," not "everything"?
Because, in order not to anger his beloved director—and to protect Lu Yi—Coulson intentionally omitted the part where Lu Yi compared Fury to a boiled egg.
Although he hated to admit it… Fury did look a little like one.
After reporting nearly everything, Coulson stared at Fury's shiny bald head, lost in thought.
And the more he stared, the hungrier he became. He suddenly craved boiled eggs. Boiled eggs really did taste good.
"Are you sure you heard everything correctly from Lu Yi?" Fury asked seriously, noticing Coulson staring upward the whole time.
The matter was too grave. Fury was fully focused. He had no idea what Coulson was thinking about.
"I'm certain."
"And you, Natasha? Are you sure as well?"
"I think so too."
Hearing the two agents he trusted most confirm this, combined with what he had been noticing recently, Fury couldn't help but believe it.
In truth, he had already been investigating where things had gone wrong. He started by examining his own ranks to see whether anyone had encountered unusual problems. He found no issue with himself—but he did discover that two agents close to him had been secretly communicating with each other.
Curious, he began looking into the nature of their contact.
But before he could dig deeper, something unexpected happened: the two agents died accidentally while on a mission.
He had seen their corpses—gruesome deaths.
They were already dead. Investigating further seemed pointless. Besides, they had died carrying out their duties. Even at the moment of death, they had not forgotten to pass along information. Their professionalism and dedication were textbook-level. Fury's suspicions gradually faded.
Eventually, he stopped thinking about the two agents entirely.
But now, after hearing everything Coulson and Natasha reported, the image of those two dead agents resurfaced in his mind. And when he placed this new information into context… he realized things were far from simple. Something had gone wrong—terribly wrong.
If those two agents had been HYDRA—and if their deaths had been murder rather than misfortune…
Then the implications were horrifying.
It meant HYDRA had already blinded him and deafened him. He had been made both blind and deaf without even realizing it.
At that thought, Fury's expression shifted sharply.
"Director, if all of this is true, we still have a chance. There are still many people inside S.H.I.E.L.D. who remain loyal. As long as we use those people wisely, we can turn the tide. HYDRA may not be able to make much of a splash after all!"
Coulson tried to encourage him. He couldn't really see Fury's expression well—just a dark silhouette—but that wasn't important. What mattered was that Fury needed to stay strong. If Fury fell, it would be bad for everyone.
"You don't have to comfort me. I don't break that easily. It's just… hard to believe. I never imagined S.H.I.E.L.D. could rot like this under my leadership, without me noticing!"
"It's not your fault, sir. Things were already this bad before you took over. You've done well."
"Have I done well? …Maybe." Fury let out a self-mocking laugh, but his eyes grew determined.
"Natasha. Coulson. S.H.I.E.L.D. is facing a potential catastrophic crisis. I'm ordering both of you to secretly investigate everything. Find evidence. Identify every possible HYDRA agent. Get to the truth."
"Yes, sir!"
PS:I'm returning home tomorrow. Need to take a plane and then a train. I should still be able to update, but it may be a bit late. Please stay tuned—I absolutely don't want to halt updates.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For advanced chapter visit my patreon:
patreon.com/fatimasoomro123
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~