Not Exactly a Secret

-Stark Mansion, Los Angeles, California-

-January 28, 2007, 0930h local-

"Ok. New Rule. Naruto cooks every time he's here." Pepper moaned out when she tasted Naruto's version of English breakfast. She had no idea how Naruto converted their half-cooked meals to one of the most glorious meals she ever had. She finally understood why Shokugakure is hauling cash. With Naruto's recipe, everyone would be tripping over themselves for it.

"Seconded." Tony said vehemently.

"If he's cooking, call me anytime..." Rhodey said. "How the hell did you make freshly squeezed OJ this good?"

While everyone was praising Naruto for his cooking, he's sitting on the corner of table pouting while eating. He can't believe Pepper would ban ramen.

As they were eating, Happy decided to walk in, looking a little pissed.

"So i just got off talking to Kate, do you know what she said?" Happy said to Tony while holding his phone.

"Who's Kate?" Tony asked, being a rich ex-playboy really makes it hard to distinguish female names sometimes.

"Kate Macer..." Happy said, expecting Tony to remember her. "You know, Assistant Director of the FBI Kate Macer..." Tony still didn't recognize the name. Happy hated to continue, but he wanted Tony to remember her to make the following conversation easier. "2k turn of the century party, redhead in a black dress." Happy finally said, reminding Tony of the night they met and supposedly had a one night stand.

"Damn. The one who looks like a model? She's AD now?" Tony asked unintentionally slipping more than he wanted to say, which caused Pepper to slap Tony in the arm and give him a disapproving stare.

"Anyways..." Happy continued hoping to continue the conversation. He served himself some breakfast. "She said there are no spooks assigned to you guys or your house. That includes the CIA, NSA, Homeland, and DOD. She's going to send someone to look into it..." Happy said before taking a bite of the eggs and bacon. "Damn. This is good."

"Rhodey. Try to find something on your end. I don't want anyone else to know about Morgan." Tony said seriously.

"No problem. I have some black ops contacts. Maybe it's something from there." Rhodey replied. Being a relatively high ranked personnel, he acknowledges that the military and other agencies are always doing questionable stuff.

Tony also has some experience with black ops since they first test a lot of his projects.

"Why don't you let me handle them? It'll only take a few minutes." Naruto offhandedly suggested.

"You? Ha! Come on. It's one thing to take our mob thugs by surprise but dealing with trained agents? That's a whole other ballpark." Rhodey exclaimed. His pride doesn't want to concede that some guy would be able to hold himself against rigorously trained agents.

"Wait a second. I saw what he could do. If no one officially sanctioned the guys surveilling us, Naruto could take them down now and ask questions later." Tony explained. He was seriously considering sicking Naruto against those guys.

"There's no one taking down anyone. We are going to finish this nice breakfast and let that FBI AD handle the situation..." Pepper said, chastising everyone while adding a little bite when referring to the Kate Macer. Pepper faced Naruto and asked, "So what got you in a rush the other day?"

"Oh! I got a date!" Naruto said with a wide smile.

"You ran out of the house in a hurry to get a date? Why the hell did it take you a day and a half to get a date?" Tony asked incredulously.

"Well, there was an emergency I have to look into. That took me around a day to straighten out, but by the end of the day, I got a date! I've meant to ask her out for some time, but responsibilities got in the way." Naruto explained.

"So, you knew her for quite a while?" Pepper asked, suddenly interested in the conversation.

"Not exactly, it's more of an 'I know of her' kind of situation, but we already met personally before."

"She hot?" Rhodey asked without tact.

"Oh yeah, definitely..." Naruto answered with a grin. "But its more than that..." Pepper appreciated that Naruto asked a girl out not only because of her look. "She can hurt you more ways than you can imagine. The woman can defend herself." That's when Pepper knew she spoke too soon.

"What? Is she a cop or a soldier?" Happy asked.

"Nope!" Naruto answered with a mischievous smile. Pepper had that bad feeling again. Every time she saw Naruto with that smile, she just knew another headache is coming her way. "She's a spy." Yup, that migraine is going to hit her hard.

Rhodey, who decided that it was the right time to drink some OJ, spat everything behind him and went into a coughing fit.

"How the hell did you meet a spy!?" Tony asked, completely ignoring his best friend's predicament.

"Remember how I said I lost all my stuff on the way to Vegas?"

"Yes." Tony drawled out.

"She's the one that gave me a ride to Vegas. She was on vacation doing something in your company." Naruto casually answered.

This time, it's Tony's turn to take a double-take.

"You mean there was a spy in the company, and you didn't tell me?" Tony said in mock seriousness.

"Get over yourself. You know you have spies in your company. I bet you even know them..." Naruto said before facing Pepper. "Quick. How many spies are there in all your US-based main company facilities?"

"127." Pepper said, a little shocked. How the hell can someone know that they knew about the spies. A whole new secret division had been made just to keep that a secret.

Naruto then faced Happy and asked,

"How many are corporate spies?"

"96." Happy replied. If Pepper has no problem revealing what they know, there's no way he would raise a fuss now.

"Wrong. Only 84 of what you know are corporate spies. Other countries sent the rest..." Naruto said. That revelation concerned Pepper. How can Naruto know what they do and don't know? But the revelations are not over. "On top of the 127, there are also 33 deep-cover spies that you haven't discovered yet. As for the whole Stark Conglomerate, there are 2866 spies in total. The one I asked out for a date, she just went in and took care of a deep-cover spy from China you didn't know about. I say that's a positive mark in my books." Naruto finally finished, leaving everyone gobsmacked.

Rhodey was the first one to recover. He immediately stood up and drew his gun, aiming it directly at Naruto, who just kept eating.

"Who are you, and what did you do before?" Rhodey asked. If the man is as skilled in combat as Tony makes him out to be, he can only be three things; Ex-Special Forces, Mercenary, or an Operator, which is a more combat-oriented spy. All of which doesn't precisely inspire relaxing thoughts in their current predicament.

Pepper rapidly pulled Morgan away from the unfolding situation; her only thought is to keep her safe. Tony and Happy are trying to diffuse the crisis to keep them from escalating.

"As I said before, I am Naruto Uzumaki, and I was a freelance contractor." Naruto answered slowly.

"Freelance contractor is another term used for mercenary or assassin." Rhodey stated while getting a little more twitchy fingered. Everyone is now seriously worried about what would happen next.

"Damn. Is that what that means? I guess that's why my date was tensed when I said that..." Naruto mused. Rhodey saw that Naruto's attention is slipping off from him, so he snapped his fingers to get it back again. "Oh, hey. Where was I?"

"Freelance Contractor." Happy helpfully added.

"Right..." Naruto said while giving Happy an appreciative nod. "I really was a freelance contractor. Like I would do almost any job. From menial tasks like house cleaning and face painting all the way to the harder ones like search and retrieval and bodyguard jobs. Hell, one time, I helped built a bridge while protecting a drunk architect. Good times." Naruto finish describing his job description while having a nostalgic look on his face.

"What the hell kind of job is that?" Rhodey asked, not thinking there's a job that does all that.

"Told you. Freelance Contractor." Naruto answered while looking at Rhodey like he's stupid.

"So you did bodyguard jobs? Is that why you approached Tony?" Rhodey asked, still trying to figure out Naruto.

"Nope. Didn't even know him then. I just figured out who he is when I traveled."

Happy decided to ask something that's been bugging him and Pepper. Rhodey already started asking anyway.

"How did you find out about the inner workings of Stark Industries?"

"Two words. Drinking game..." Naruto said like it explained everything. When he saw no one got it, he continued. "A lot of your employees are lightweight. I met some during my travels. When I figured out they work for you, I decided I want to know ask more questions. It kind of spiraled from there."

Pepper latched on to what he said and said,

"No one would just tell you sensitive corporate secrets."

"Hey! People just kind of trust me. I'm still staying here, am I?" Naruto stated the obvious.

"He got you there..." Tony said towards Pepper which just irked her. "With all that cleared up, Rhodey put that gun away. Everyone sit down, and let's eat before the food gets any colder..." Rhodey holstered his gun but still looking at Naruto warily. Pepper sat Morgan back on her chair and thought about how can it be so different from just adding one person in the scenario. Happy is thinking about what Naruto said about the spies in the company. "So now everything has chilled out, we can now discuss something more important, about someone's date with a venerable super spy..." He said, oozing with giddiness. "So, what's your plan?"

"I don't know. I've only been on a few dates, and my knowledge doesn't seem to apply this time."

"What!? That won't do for my business partner. Let me give you some advice." Tony sagely said while pushing Naruto out of the room. There's no way in hell he'll discuss these things in front of Pepper.

Pepper saw how excited Tony was and knew immediately that it would be a recipe for disaster.

"James. Can you just go with them? Don't let Tony get overboard." Pepper requested.

"On it." Rhodey said before standing up and following the pair.

-Triskelion, Washington DC-

-January 28, 2007, 1300h local-

An older man in a suit is pacing back and forth inside the Director's office in the Triskelion. He's anxiousness visible for everyone to see.

His name is Alexander Pierce, the current Secretary of the World Security Council. He's a 5'10, 75 years old, Caucasian man, with dirty blonde hair and blue eyes. He worked for the State Department, where he's work led him to be a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize, which he turned down. His impressive resume fast-tracked him to be a Secretary for the World Security Council. He used his position to nominate Nick Fury as the new Director, which formed some type of friendship between the two. But of course, there are always wolves dressed as lambs.

Pierce is secretly an undercover Hydra agent recruited during his time in the State Department. He's the highest positioned mole of Hydra in the SHIELD and the US government. His job is to subtly recruit agents for Hydra as well as ensure the organization is hidden until they are ready to show themselves.

The reason Pierce is in Fury's office is that he heard that his private jet has landed. The fuck up in Budapest already cost them Bloom, one of Hydra's most effective finance administrators, and now he heard they have nothing to show for it.

He was the one that alerted the Hydra's High Council about Romanoff's impromptu mission. The Council immediately pounce on the opportunity to grab Romanoff in hopes of finding out who the information broker called Nine Tails is. His sources told him about Romanoff, Barton, Coulson, and even Fury himself knowing who the Nine-Tails himself, with Romanoff being the most likely. Fury supposedly saw a photo of the Nine-Tails face, but there was only one copy and it is heavily guarded.

The whole plan in Budapest was to capture Romanoff and force her to tell them what she knows while using Barton as a bargaining chip.

They wouldn't even try to do something as daring before, but desperate times call for drastic measures. The Nine-Tails is just becoming too big of a problem only to be considered a nuisance. The son of a bitch has managed to decrease their income by as much as 60% in just the first year he's been active. Terrorist cells, Drug Cartels, Government financial overflow, and corporate profits through off the book operations are being taken down one by one by selling undisputable evidence to the authorities. They can't even control them in the shadows anymore since Nine Tails just goes with another group if they don't act on the information. That's why they also sent their ultimate weapon, The Winter Soldier, to make sure everything goes smoothly.

The plan in Budapest was going as planned when the Nine-Tails himself decided to fix his supposed fuck up. He never thought that killing the original seller and meeting the general themselves to ambush Romanoff and Barton would call for the Nine-Tails to show himself. He would usually be happy to know that Hydra could finally capture or kill him, but the whole thing was literally a bloodbath. Only the Winter Soldier managed to escape, but his metal arm was turned into a venerable pile of scrap.

The only good thing that happened was that the Nine-Tails surrendered himself when he urged Fury to send reinforcements in the guise of helping the team the moment Bloom went dark. He watched the live feed of the guards bringing Nine-Tails in the Omega cell, excited to finally the face of the man who's fucking with them, but he guessed his excitement came by too soon. No one can remove the mask and the man himself won't remove it, so they were forced to leave it on.

Pierce also watched Fury interrogating the Nine-Tails, but Fury closed the mic off before he went in. He can't even use a lip-reading program since Fury is facing away from the camera, and the Nine-Tails was still wearing the God damned mask. In the end, Fury placed the cell on lockdown, effectively cutting the feed off. When it resumed, everyone was a little shell shocked, and the Nine-Tails was nowhere to be seen. Preliminary reports from the Raft said that the man was never imprisoned in the first place, only a clone was placed inside the cell.

Only one thing caused his anxiousness; the possibility of the Nine-Tails getting information on Bloom and selling it to Fury. Pierce is only there to see if Fury learned something new.

Pierce turned around when he heard the door open. He saw Fury walking in with Coulson and Hill on his right and left, respectively.

"What the hell happened!?" Pierce said with as much authoritative tone as he can muster.

"The Nine-Tails never surrendered. He just left a clone behind, and that's who we caught..." Fury said smoothly while walking towards his desk. "As for Budapest, I say he did us a favor, although he could try to be a little cleaner."

"Is there anything you found out about Budapest?" Pierce asked, keeping a calm demeanor. If Fury found out about Hydra, they might need to push forward with their plan even if Project Insight still has at least five years before completion.

"They're an organized paramilitary group, and they killed the original seller just to ambush my team. We haven't found out more about them, but I will find out how they knew about the mission." Fury said with conviction. Pierce was immediately on high alert. The only reason Fury still hasn't found out about them was because they stay well away from his radar.

"Let me handle that one. I'll assign Garrett or Sitwell on it. You already have too much on your plate already." Pierce suggested. Hoping if he assigned it to either of them, they can control the investigation.

"Sure, go ahead. But I want a copy of every report they send out." Fury said.

"Of course." Pierce said while secretly releasing a sigh of relief. "Did you find out about anything on this Nine-Tails? Cause he's got to be stopped or at least work for us. He's making everyone look bad." He asked, hoping to get a new lead.

"Not much. The only new information I have is that he liked fucking with people and has eyes and ears everywhere. He implied that he only showed up in Budapest since he saw a different man show up as the seller. Other than that, I have no idea, and I hate not knowing something."

Pierce processed the information and came up with one conclusion; if they mess another one of his intelligence, they can make him show up.

"Before I leave, why did you lock down the cell?"

"Because he said he could get out anytime. I just wanted to be sure he can't. I guess it was no use after all since it popped into a cloud of smoke after a while." Fury answered, mixing lies and truth.

"Alright. I'll let Garrett handle the investigation. He's just traveling around. It's easier for him to get some info. I'll see you some other time, Nick." Pierce said before leaving the room.

Silence permeates the room until Fury walked over to his desk and pushed a button. It was one of the personal features Fury added to the office. It will cut off all forms of outgoing communication in the office, even hardline, making it impossible to eavesdrop in it. The only way to get something is to leave a remote recording device inside the room and retrieving it for later.

"Add Garrett and Sitwell to the list." Fury ominously ordered when he was sure no one else could listen in.

"Already added, sir." Coulson said a little subdued. He and Sitwell were classmates inside SHIELD academy and grew to be friends.

"How many does that make it?" Fury asked, already knowing the answer.

"Three. Pierce, Sitwell, and Garrett."

"What are we talking about, Boss?" Maria Hill finally interjected, not appreciating being left out of the conversation.

Maria Hill is a 5'8, 25-year-old Caucasian woman with black hair and blue eyes. She was personally hired directly by Fury 2 years ago from the army. Her sharp mind and eye for details led her to become one of the fastest rising stars in the agency. She's being groomed by Fury to be the next Deputy Director since Coulson wants to remain to be a field agent. Her current job is to be Fury's secretary as well as lead some missions in her free time.

"Funny you should ask Hill because we're going to need your help. But first, let me ask you a question." Fury said while fixing her with an intense stare.

"Sure, boss." Hill answered. If Fury asked you to do something, you dont say no since it usually deals with matters of national security.

"What would you do when I say Hydra is growing inside if SHIELD?" Fury asked.

Hill had to pause to process what Fury said. After a few seconds, she finally decided to answer the question with her own.

"What?"