Trident Building, Alexander Pierce's office.
Nick Fury pushed the door open. Pierce stood by the floor-to-ceiling window, his back to the door.
"Nick, you're here." Pierce turned, wearing a kind smile. "Have a seat, old friend."
Fury walked to the sofa and sat down, his single eye scanning the familiar office. Photos of Pierce during his years as director hung on the walls, along with one of the two of them together.
"I heard you sent Steve and Coulson to meet a writer yesterday?" Pierce poured two glasses of whiskey and handed one to Fury.
"Yes," Fury said, taking the glass. "A science fiction writer who specializes in World War II. Steve wanted to verify some details."
Pierce nodded. "Steve always had a soft spot for that era. What's this writer's name?"
"Voss Nibbler," Fury replied, sipping the whiskey. "Just an ordinary young man."
"Voss Nibbler," Pierce repeated, rolling the name on his tongue. "Unusual name. What does he write about?"
Fury felt the probing behind the question, his instincts sounding alarms, but his face stayed calm. "Some stories about Hydra. You know how popular sci-fi novels are these days."
A flicker of something sharp passed through Pierce's eyes. "Hydra? That old Nazi group? Certainly makes for an interesting subject."
"Alexander," Fury set his glass down and locked eyes with Pierce. "Do you believe Hydra was really wiped out?"
The question shifted the room's air immediately. Pierce's smile stayed, but his gaze grew heavier.
"Of course, Nick," Pierce said slowly. "After the war, we hunted down every last Hydra remnant. They've been gone a long time."
"Is that so?" Fury narrowed his eye. "Sometimes I wonder—what if they weren't destroyed, just hidden?"
Pierce turned back to the window. "That's only a theory, Nick. The threats we face today are terrorists, alien invasions, not ghosts from seventy years ago."
"Alien invasions," Fury echoed. "Speaking of which, how's Project Insight coming along?"
"Very smoothly," Pierce replied. "The Helicarriers are almost complete, weapons systems in final testing. It'll be the most powerful defense network in history."
Fury stepped closer. "Defense? I remember Insight was meant to prevent threats, not launch attacks."
"Prevention and defense are the same thing," Pierce's tone hardened. "In this world, Nick, sometimes the best defense is a good offense."
"A good offense," Fury repeated, weighing the words. "And what if the system falls into the wrong hands?"
Pierce turned. "Wrong hands? What do you mean?"
"For example… Hydra." Fury's eye fixed on him.
The room's temperature seemed to drop. Pierce's smile faltered.
"Nick, Hydra died with the Nazis," he said, his voice thin.
"Is that so?" Fury moved back toward the sofa but didn't sit. "Then why has someone been following me lately?"
"Following you?" Pierce widened his eyes in mock surprise. "Who would dare? You're the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D."
Fury's eye burned with suspicion. "That's what I intend to find out."
The two stared each other down, the tension sharp enough to cut. Pierce weighed his chances—strike now? No, Fury was too dangerous, Hill's people were outside, and Project Insight wasn't ready. It wasn't time yet.
"Nick, I think you've been under too much strain." Pierce sat back down, voice soft again. "Maybe you should take a vacation."
"I'll think about it," Fury said flatly, sitting as well.
Pierce lifted his glass. "Nick, how many years have we known each other?"
"Over twenty."
"Twenty-three," Pierce corrected. "From the day I promoted you from a Level 3 agent, we've been partners. I know you, just as you know me."
"Yes. You've always been the man I trusted most," Fury said with genuine weight. "You put me in this chair, you showed me how to run S.H.I.E.L.D."
Pierce's expression grew conflicted. "Nick, you sound like you're saying goodbye."
The silence stretched between them, heavy with unspoken truths.
Fury thought back on Worth's warning. If Pierce really was Hydra, then S.H.I.E.L.D. had been compromised from the beginning.
"Nothing," Fury finally said, shaking his head. "Just remembering. You once told me, when you first retired: 'The world's too complicated. It's hard to know who's a friend and who's an enemy.'"
"I did say that," Pierce nodded. "And it's still true."
Fury walked to the door, paused, and asked, "Alexander… if you learned the man you trusted most betrayed you, what would you do?"
Pierce took his time before answering. "I'd be hurt. But I'd do what I had to."
"So would I," Fury said, and left.
Once the door closed, Pierce's face hardened. He picked up an encrypted phone.
"Rumlow, Fury may suspect something. Keep tighter watch on him… and on that writer."
"Do you want me to move on them?" Rumlow's voice crackled over the line.
"Not yet," Pierce said, staring at the city lights. "Insight is almost ready. When it launches, every threat will be erased. Until then, stay hidden."
"Understood."
Pierce hung up, opened a wall safe, and pulled out a red booklet. The Russian words on the cover read: Winter Soldier Operations Manual.
Inside, a string of activation words: desire, rust, seventeen, dawn, furnace, nine, kindness, homecoming, one, freight car.
"Old friend," Pierce muttered, "let's hope it never comes to this."
Meanwhile, in his car, Fury's phone rang.
"Director, it's me," Hill said. "We just got back from New Jersey. It's worse than we thought."
"We'll talk in person," Fury replied. "Our usual spot."
"Understood."
Fury hung up, staring back at the Trident Building in his mirror. A storm was coming.
He started the engine and disappeared into the night.
From a shadowed corner of the Trident Building, a man watched through binoculars. He lowered them and spoke into his radio.
"Target is on the move. Continue tailing."
"Roger that."
Washington's night concealed a silent war for the world's future.
And far away in New York, Voss was in his kitchen, making a late-night snack. He had no idea he'd become a key piece in this game.
"Master, aren't you worried?" Artoria asked.
"Worried about what?" Voss answered, stirring his noodles.
"Steve and the others. Their safety."
Voss paused, looking out the window. "Worry won't change anything. What's coming will come. All we can do is trust them."