The Traitor

"Of course he did it on purpose, Tony," Natasha's voice was cold. "It's called narrative control. If he had acted from the beginning, it would have just been 'Homelander and Iron Man teaming up to thwart a conspiracy.' But now..."

She pointed to the screen.

"...The story now is: Iron Man suffers a crushing defeat, and the Avengers are absent. But Homelander, when all the heroes have failed, descends from the sky and single-handedly saves the president and the country."

"Damn it..." Tony slammed his fist on the bar. "He's just a show-off bastard!"

"Calm down, Tony." Steve's voice was deep and powerful as he stood up and walked to Tony's side.

"No matter what, he saved your life."

Steve looked at the screen at the figure standing side by side with the president, enjoying the flashing lights, his expression complex.

Tony Stark suddenly fell silent.

He looked at the screen, and the anger in his eyes gradually cooled.

"...Jarvis."

"Yes, sir."

"Buy me a ticket."

"What ticket?" Steve turned around, puzzled.

"Homelander: Origins." Tony grinned bitterly. "Premiere. I'm going to fucking see just how amazing this bastard's 'Origins' really is."

……

Aircraft carrier, command center.

Nick Fury stood in front of the huge porthole, his hands behind his back, looking down at the land below.

He has been standing here, motionless, for an hour.

Maria Hill walked in, her footsteps standing out clearly on the empty bridge.

"Sir."

"Speak," Fury said without turning around.

"The market value of Starr Group surged by 45% overnight." Hill's voice was flat, simply stating a fact.

"Capitol Hill is drafting a bill to transfer a portion of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s budget... for domestic superhuman threats to Vought International as payment for government outsourcing services."

"Ha." Fury let out a contemptuous sneer. "Outsourcing? That's what they call...outsourcing?"

"Sir, this doesn't make sense," Hill said, barely containing his anger. "We are a global agency authorized by the Security Council! How dare President Ellis..."

"Why doesn't he dare?" Fury finally turned around, his single eye gleaming coldly in the shadows.

"Hill, tell me, what were our intelligence agencies doing last night when Air Force One was hijacked?"

"We...we are analyzing the Mandarin's movements..."

Fury interrupted her, his voice icy, "You're chasing some fucking third-rate actor who lives in Pakistan!"

He slammed his fist into the glass.

"The president's plane has been hijacked, Hill! Air Force One! It has the codes to launch nuclear missiles! And we're fucking nowhere to be seen in Florida!"

He turned around, his single eye blazing with fury.

"We spent hundreds of billions building this flying aircraft carrier. We had Project Insight, we had the Avengers. And what did we get? The President of the United States needs a self-employed individual in a Stars and Stripes cape to save him?"

"Sir, there is indeed a problem with the flow of our intelligence..."

"A problem?" Fury sneered. "No, Hill, this isn't a problem. It's not a lack of intelligence, nor is it a communication breakdown."

He walked to the porthole and looked down at the rolling clouds.

"This is... a betrayal."

Hill's heart skipped a beat: "Sir? You mean the Vice President...?"

“I’m not referring to that idiot who’s about to be court-martialed,” Fury’s voice was terrifyingly low. “I’m referring to… my house.”

"Sir?"

"I have rats in my house, Hill. Big, fat, fucking hiding rats."

Countless thoughts flashed through Fury's mind.

Why was the operation to track down the "Mandarin" so "smooth"?

Why didn't Killian's actions trigger a single red dot in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s system?

Why... does the system always "delay" when he tries to deploy rapid reaction forces?

"We've been played," Fury said. "Someone inside is guiding our attention and making a fool of us."

"You suspect there's a... mole within our ranks?"

"I doubted it? No, I'm sure now." Fury turned around. "Everything's too coincidental since the Battle of New York. Stark was attacked, and we were a step too slow. The president was kidnapped, and we were fucking blind."

“And Homelander,” Fury’s one eye narrowed, “how did he know? The Starr Corporation’s private intelligence network? Don’t be ridiculous. He’s not just faster than us… he didn’t even take our route.”

Fury took a deep breath.

"That blond bastard is now the president's savior. He got federal law enforcement clearance. He turned superheroes into a damn business and is trying to legalize it."

"He...he bypassed us." Hill finally realized the seriousness of the problem.

“He didn’t just bypass us, he jumped over us, stepping on our faces.” Fury’s tone was full of frustration. “And we couldn’t even fucking trip him, because our own legs… were broken from the inside.”

"Hill, activate the 'Ghost Protocol.' From this moment on, I will not trust anyone but you."

"Sir...you mean..."

“Yes.” Fury’s one eye flashed coldly. “I need to know how many people on this ship… were silently chanting ‘Hail Hydra’ when they saluted me.”

……

"...Long live Hydra!"

Alexander Pierce turned off the recording from the miniature bug on his desk, a nonchalant smile on his face.

"Nick...Nick...you're always so perceptive," he murmured to himself. "Too bad, it's too late."

The office door slid open silently.

Brock Rumlow, the leader of the "Commandos," walked in with a grim expression, followed by a trembling Jasper Sitwell.

"Sir," Rumlow said succinctly.

"Brock, Jasper, relax." Pierce gestured to the sofa opposite. "Want a coffee? Or... let's talk about our 'blonde sweetheart'?"

Sitwell nervously wiped his sweat. "Sir... Fury... he seems to be starting to have doubts. He's initiated the highest level of internal investigation."

"Let him investigate." Pierce chuckled dismissively, pouring himself a glass of Scotch whisky. "Nick is chasing ghosts; he thinks he's catching mice. But he doesn't know that he himself... is in the mousetrap."

He looked at Rumlow: "I'm more concerned about that uninvited guest."

Rumlow's expression instantly turned ferocious: "Homelander. Damn it, I saw the Florida footage... That wasn't a battle, that was slaughter. Those two heat glares from him... Our Winter Soldier can't handle them."