Once back inside Fury's office after that whole ordeal, everyone looked at Natasha for answers.
"Well, Romanoff, you owe us all some answers; I expect a full written report later, but give me the important details for now." Fury said as he sat down, his single eye bearing hard on Natasha.
Natasha just nodded, and after giving Clint a small smile, she began her report. "Well, the whole operation was a massive bust. The first thing that happened was a short meeting with Alexandra Ricci, who accepted me before sending me to wait in a nearby room."
"The man who came for me was none other the Jonathan Graves, Coulson's mark." As she said this she noticed who reacted to it, and only Fury seemed to know already.
"Ricci was indeed part of the mysterious cabal. However, we misclassified Graves as belonging to the third chaos faction when he is part of the cabal." She continued until Fury interrupted.
"What can you tell us about this cabal?"
"Well, they are massive, global, and very old. Like far older than most governments and deeply connected to them. While I'm not too aware of the inner workings. I do know that they have men everywhere, both agents or supporters, be the CIA, FBI, Pentagon, the senate, they have a strong voice and presence everywhere."
"If they are so big, then how come we know nothing of them?" Clint interrupted, though everyone else nodded along to his question.
"Because they know about us, they know about Shield, they know that they don't want us to know. So they have made everyone shut up about them." Natasha explained before getting interrupted again.
"That makes no sense, Romanoff if there is this cabal. Then why would the government spend so much money on SHIELD? I'm sure it isn't easy for the Director to secure our budget."
"From what I was able to gather, it's because while the government supports this cabal, they have no control over it; they have tried to make Shield replace them. Ensuring that they have the same security and safety but also control."
Fury leaned back in his chair, processing Natasha's explanation with a thoughtful frown. "So, you're suggesting there's a faction within the government that supports SHIELD as a counterbalance to this cabal's influence? An attempt to regain some measure of control?"
"Yes, exactly," Natasha confirmed. "The cabal operates with such autonomy and secrecy that even those who support them feel threatened. Shield is seen as a necessary check, albeit one that's kept in the dark about the true extent of the cabal's reach."
"Hmmm, I assume they have people here in SHIELD?" Fury asked.
"That's correct, though from what I could gather, they didn't have many or in high ranks."
"Which is why they sent you back? Hoping you would be their spy? Controlled by that collar of theirs?" Fury asked again, though from his tone, it was clear that he was already sure of it.
"Do you have any idea of who they could be, Romanoff?" Hill asked up from the side.
Shaking her head. "No, such things were not something I was allowed to know."
"There must have been more to this than just a spy, a secondary major goal; the spy is just the distraction; if we didn't find it, then they would use you, but there is more." Fury said up suddenly. Drawing attention to himself before it all shifted back to Natasha.
"I believe they might want me to send both a message and some information," Natasha replied easily; inwardly, she was shocked at how on script everything was going. She was almost beginning to doubt that these three weren't also following a script.
"We learned about them, were starting to dig, and they wanted us to stop that. So they allowed you inside to show off their power, their connections, to get us to back down." Clint theorized from the side.
"Not just that, they want to feed us information through Romanoff, the information we will have to act on. Which will make us work for their benefit." Fury added as he made his own theories.
"That makes sense," Natasha conceded. "They knew they couldn't keep me forever, which meant they had to either get rid of me or send me back. By sending me back, they not only control what we learn but potentially guide our actions to suit their agendas."
Clint, ever the strategist, leaned forward, his brow furrowed. "So, every piece of intel you bring back could be a trap, or at least, a move in their larger game. How do we sift the truth from the manipulation?"
"Well, first, we need to know more about them—their philosophy, their way of thinking and operating. Only when we know that can we start to pick apart their plans," Fury said and sent the unsaid question back to Natasha.
"Well, everything I learned might be wrong, but I was able to spend some time we a few of their agents, mostly Graves. They had me shadow a few of their operations, but they could be trying to deceive me."
"Hold on." Clint interrupted. "I was sure you didn't get out, so how did you go on missions? Every exit was watched closely."
"There are two large extra floors under the mansion, with tunnels leading out. Though I can't stress enough how trying to enter them is a bad idea! In fact, I'm not even going to tell you where they are." Natasha's answer drew an angry glare from Fury.
"And why is that Romanoff? That information could be crucial for a raid." He demanded.
"Because those tunnels are all rigged to blow, they won't just take out anyone trying to enter; they will bring down entire blocks. I can't stress enough how dangerous it would be, even an accident with some underground digging could blow them up."
The gravity of the situation did seem to settle with all three of them. While a pair of secret tunnels would make for a great entrance, they had clearly taken some rather extreme measures to ensure that no one did anything like that.
"I understand why you wouldn't want us to enter, but why not even tell us?" Fury pressed after a moment.
"Because not only do they have their agents in Shield, but so does the Chaos Insurgency, this shadowy group that works against both Shield and them." Natasha's statement seemed to bring even more gloom to the always-gloomy director.
Fury paused, the weight of the situation settling in deeper. "So, we're essentially caught between two powerful, shadowy groups, both manipulating from the shadows, and now we have to tread carefully not just around one, but both," he summarized grimly.
"Yes, sir," Natasha affirmed, her tone steady despite the critical eyes on her. "And both groups are highly capable of not just espionage but also direct sabotage if they believe their interests are threatened."
Maria Hill, who had been silently processing the information, spoke up: "This makes internal security audits even more critical. We need to vet our own people more thoroughly and ensure there are no leaks or moles planted by either group."
Clint leaned back, his face a mask of concern. "We also need to be careful about any intelligence we receive, even from our own. Anything could be a setup to trigger conflict or sway us into actions that serve their ends, not ours."
Natasha was happy with the direction things were going in; the extra scrutiny would surely limit Hydra.
"Alright, Romanoff, I want you to describe these two organizations in broad strokes." Fury finally had enough to not knowing who and what he was dealing with.
"The organization Ricci is associated with, and we called the cabal, is called The Bulwark. They are much like an older Shield. Their mission is to protect the world from fantastical threats; the other one, the Chaos Insurgency, is very much the opposite of that."
Natasha then started the full explanation that was planned out by the Foundation think tank. "The Bulwark's main objective is to collect these fantastical objects, called objects of interest. And locked them up, believing that the world would be better without them."
"The Chaos Insurgency, on the other hand, is against that idea; they want the more fantastical aspects of the world to be free, even if that should mean mass death or even the end of the world." She knew that she was losing them and quickly started to explain deeper.
"Doing my time I was allowed to see three such objects. And while one wasn't all that dangerous, the other two were plenty dangerous, one even so dangerous it could kill billions if misused!"
Fury's expression grew more serious with each word. "Billions? That's a level of threat that could warrant any measure of response from us, no matter how extreme. Explain these objects more."
Nodding, Natasha continued. "The first object I saw was the one we picked up from Osborn. I don't know where it came from. It is very much like our own 084 objects in that regard. It was some kind of shapeshifting being or item; it mimicked toys and brought them to life."
"That doesn't sound too dangerous, even if utterly impossible," Clint said from the side, and Natasha had no doubt that the others didn't also doubt the existence of such objects; she herself wouldn't believe it if she hadn't seen them.
"You only say that because it wasn't allowed to mimic a true-to-life toy soldier, or dinosaur."
"Guess that could be slightly dangerous." He admitted after Natasha's reminder.
"Again, not too dangerous, but it could still cause harm and death. The other two objects were far more dangerous. One was a cat, or well, a tiger that looked like a cat."
"A tiger looking like a cat? How does that work?" Hill couldn't help but ask.
"Well, it would look like a cat; even on photos or video, all you would see was a normal cute kitten. But if you put it on a scale, it would weigh hundreds of pounds, like a tiger. Still, the most dangerous thing about it was and is the fact that you can't think of it as dangerous."
"Let me explain. If it were to walk in here right now, we would just see a cat; even if I told you it was a tiger in disguise and that it was dangerous, none of us, myself included, would react to the danger."
"Let's say Clint bends down to pet it. Then he got ripped limp from limp; he wouldn't scream, he wouldn't fight, he would just laugh at how playful it was. And the rest of us would just watch one and wait for our turn."
The more she explained, the more she could see them starting to understand the danger of this object. "It's impossible to feel danger around it. I was allowed to be near it, and I felt the effect, and it was scary afterward; I mean, while near it, I felt all the security was stupid as there was nothing to be afraid about."
"Indeed, something able to mess with the mind like that would be pretty dangerous. But surely there is a way to deal with it right?" Fury said while trying to think about what kind of uses such an object could have.
"yes, while the illusion ability couldn't be broken even by pictures or film, the mind manipulation has a range; outside of that, one can feel normal danger." She explained.
"So shoot it from a range then." Clint neatly summed up.
"And what about the final object? I doubt the tiger, as dangerous as it might be, is the billion-killing one." Hill asked.
"The last one is a song, a piece of music, where every recording has that strange, impossible effect. Those who hear the song will have any disease cured and wounds healed. They called it the Song of Genesis." As she passed, the others held their tongues, allowing her to continue.
"However, if one hears more than a few minutes, then uncontrolled cell growth starts, new limbs and organs, the food in your stomach growing into plants and trees. Long enough time passing will cause agonizing deaths for all and leave nothing but plants left."
"So something that could do a great deal amount of good, but if used wrong, it will only cause death. It could even be used as a weapon of mass destruction. I take it the Bulwark wants it locked up, and the Chaos insurgency wants it to spread?" Fury asked after voicing his own thoughts.
"That's exactly right, sir."
"These are some troublesome things you speak of, Romanoff."
"Sir, there around thousands of these objects in the hands of the bulwark, with an unknown number in the hands of the Chaos Insurgency. The world is far more dangerous then we could ever believe." She added.
"Surely we don't actually believe this? I mean, its impossible, right?" Hill asked, and Clint nodded along.
"There are many strange things out there. These could be possible." Fury said and looked back at Natasha. "What more do you have?"
"It is probably what they want me to say, another object they informed me about just as they let me go." Natasha began.
She had to admit that it was this final piece of information she had been given that finally caused her to agree to betray Shield. Even knowing they had her sister hadn't been as decisive as this.
"There are some kinds of dangerous monsters out there, looking like a hybrid between a chicken and a human, and they are dangerous, like the end of the world level of dangerous. They are nearly impossible to kill; they are strong and reproduce fast. If left alone, they will cause the end of humanity."
"Now it makes sense, they need SHIELD to help them find and deal with these monsters, that's why they sent you back. They know we can't do nothing, we will have to do their dirty work, even if we don't want to." Fury said, cursing.
Natasha personally didn't think the Foundation needed much help, as far as she had been told, they only needed as many eyes as possible looking for them. Once found, they should be able to deal with this SCP-3199.
"Alright, Romanoff, I need more; I need everything you have. Hill, get us some water, Romanoff is going to be doing a lot of talking." "Fury said as a far more serious debriefing began.
A/N
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