Natasha Romanov barely even glanced at her phone when it started buzzing, instead keeping her concentration on the road. Instead, her finger shot out, jabbing the button.
"Go," she said.
"Nat, it's Steve."
"Hey, Steve. You calling to tell me you finally asked out that nurse who lives across from you?" she asked playfully.
Steve Rogers' voice was deadly serious, though, when he replied.
"Nat. Fury's been shot," he stated.
Natasha's head snapped to the phone for an instant before resuming her concentration as she drove.
"Where?" she asked.
"My apartment," Steve replied. "The shots came from the next building over. The shooter got away."
"Fury?" she asked, knowing that Steve would understand her question in full.
"Alive. For now," Steve stated grimly. "Three rounds to the chest, though. He's being taken straight to George Washington for emergency surgery."
"I'm already on the road," she replied. "Be there in twenty."
The phone cut off but Nat wasn't even paying it any attention. Instead, she was checking the traffic travelling in her direction as well as that coming towards her.
At the perfect moment, she swung the wheel of her black corvette hard, spinning the car a hard one eighty before planting her foot and rocketing off back the way she'd come.
ooo00ooo
"I have never encountered beings with this technology before," Thor stated uncertainly.
"You've never encountered the Thermians before? Huh," Tony replied and popped a handful of popcorn in his mouth.
"This technology is quite advanced," Thor said after watching some more of the recording that Tony was showing him on the big screen in the Tower's main lounge area. "How did you acquire this footage?"
"Oh, you know me, Thor, I've got connections everywhere," Tony replied, to which Bruce simply snorted in derision.
"What footage?" Pepper asked as she, Jane and Darcy walked into the room.
"Oh, cool! Galaxy Quest, I love this!" Darcy exclaimed as she rushed forward before plonking herself down on the couch beside Thor.
The tall Asgardian stared at her. When she, without even looking, reached across and took a handful of his popcorn, he frowned and carefully moved the bucket further away.
"You have seen this footage, Darcy?" he asked. "It is not classified?"
"Seen it? Yeah, at least a dozen times. Gotta love Alan Rickman in this," she replied, her eyes glued to the screen.
"Thor? Did Tony tell you that this is real?" Jane asked carefully.
"He did," Thor replied before narrowing his eyes at the man in question. "Stark?"
"Excuse me, Sir, you have an incoming call from Captain Rogers," Jarvis stated.
"I do? Then, I'd better take it," Tony said, jumping up and rushing away towards the bar. "Perfect timing, buddy."
"I was not joking, Sir; you truly have a telephone call from Captain Rogers," Jarvis replied.
Tony grabbed his mobile from the counter and hit the button.
"Hey, Capsicle. What's up?" Tony said jovially.
"Stark," Steve said and Tony could hear the seriousness in the other man's voice. "There's no easy way to say this. Director Fury was shot earlier this evening. He underwent emergency surgery but there was nothing that the doctors could do. He died, Tony."
"Ah, man," Tony breathed, his head dropping. "The shooter?"
"We're investigating," Steve replied.
"Keep me posted, Steve," Tony said.
"Will do," Steve promised.
After dropping the mobile back onto the counter, he took a moment to centre himself. He may not have really like the guy, but Fury had earnt his respect.
"Tony?" Pepper asked, coming up behind him silently and placing a hand on his shoulder. "Is something wrong?"
Tony turned to find that the movie had been paused and that all eyes were on him.
"That was Steve," Tony said. "Nick Fury was shot earlier tonight. He didn't make it."
"How's Steve?" Pepper asked.
Tony shrugged. "Okay, I guess. Sounded a bit shook up."
"Did they catch the guy who did it?" Bruce asked.
"Not yet," Tony replied.
"Well, that's put a dampener on the movie," Darcy sighed.
ooo00ooo
Harry placed the Den's phone back in its cradle and turned, leaning back onto the counter that he'd been cleaning before the phone rang.
Fury being killed was completely unexpected. Harry hadn't met the guy that many times but he'd been unique. Well, not quite unique. Fury and old Mad-Eye-Moody would have gotten along famously – they wouldn't have believed a word out of the other's mouth but they'd have earnt each other's respect. Two knarls from the same litter, those two.
Exactly how someone had gotten the drop on the Director was unknown. The bigger question, though, was who the new Director was going to be. Being Director or S.H.I.E.L.D. meant being privy to information that was classified way above almost everyone else on the planet. And one tiny piece of that information was that the magical world existed.
Harry wondered whether he needed to let the International Confederation of Wizards know. They'd definitely be interested in knowing how this affected them. But then, on second thought, Harry'd be surprised if they didn't already know from whatever monitors and people they had in place.
Either way, Harry determined to meet with the new Director as soon as possible. He could go in as Mage, at least, and use a few simple spells or a couple of drops of veritaserum if need be to determine the threat that this posed.
On the positive side, going to Washington would also mean catching up with Steve. The normally stoic man had seemed genuinely rattled on the phone. Naturally, Harry had asked if Steve had needed anything, including for him to portkey to Washington to either help with the investigation or to simply be there for his friend, an offer that had been declined.
For now, Harry would be content to take a wait and see approach. If things changed, though, he'd go, whether Steve asked him to come or not.
.
.
.
📖For everyone who wants to read it in full📖
👇🏼It will be available on my Ko-Fi👇🏼
‼️ko-fi.com/skyarc/shop‼️
—————————————————————
✅Subscribe now if you want to get all the PDFs available on my page.✅