[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/kp75986.png?1[/img][/center] [b]Washington D.C. 1986[/b] “Operation: Red Harvest.” Mike Stevenson looked up from his legal pad at Deputy Director Peters. Along with Stevenson and Peters, three other SHIELD agents Stevenson didn’t recognize were in the briefing room. Peters stood at the head of the table next to a slideshow presentation. He pressed the clicker in is hand and the slide switched to a picture of the world with red arrows projecting from the Soviet Union and stretching across the planet to other countries. “This is the flow of illegal weapons from the USSR. You see places we expect: Somalia, Cuba, Egypt. They’ve slowed down the flow considerably now that they’re stuck in the shitshow that is Afghanistan. But that’s going to end eventually. This is what SHIELD projects that flow of illegal weapons will look like in 1996.” Peters clicked to the next slide. Same map with almost all the same countries being fed weapons. The big standout was the giant red arrow that pointed to the United States. “Once they’re out of Afghanistan, our sources at the Kremlin say the Russians are going to make a push to destabilize America. The inner cities are turning to war zones thanks to that rock cocaine shit that they’re smoking. Reagan’s doing all he can to stop the influx of drugs into this country, but that’s a band-aid at best. The second they get Russian guns flowing in with the crack rock, this country is going to be in big trouble. The makings of armed insurrection. Capitol Hill and the White House are doing their part with crackdowns on drug dealers and users. But SHIELD is going to our part. This is where you four come in.” Another slide showed a map of the US with four cities circled in red. “New York, LA, Houston, and Hub City,” said Peters. “All four are either high poverty, high crime, high minority, or in the case of Hub City, all of the above. This is a deep cover assignment with all four of you operating in your chosen city as either a drug or arms dealer. You would identify any criminals with soviet ties or leftist affiliations and pass them on to SHIELD for further action. The ideal goal of this operation is for you to contain these criminal elements using your operator skills, either through coercion or hostile takeover of their enterprises.” “Jesus,” said one of the agents. “Is SHIELD sanctioning organized crime?” “This is all above board,” said Peters. “This has already been run up the ladder to DOJ and the White House and both are signing off on it.” “So we’d be criminals?” Mike asked. “Under deep cover, sure, but still doing criminal activities. What’s stopping us from getting arrested by the FBI?” “We have fallbacks in that case,” replied Peters. “Ways for you to avoid arrest. As with any undercover op, you are granted leeway to maintain your cover. Anything up to murder or conspiracy to commit murder.” Peters straightened the knot in his tie before looking at the four agents with a raised eyebrow. “Shall we continue?” [hr] [b]Hub City Now[/b] “You know the rest of the story,” Stevenson said to Tresser. “Or at least you should.” “The Soviet Union collapsed a few years later,” said Tresser. ”The great crackbaby revolution of the 90’s never came to pass. And you were a man without a mission.” Stevenson nodded. He and Tresser were at an all-night diner. Stevenson led Tresser there by gunpoint after showing his SHIELD badge. Even though the restaurant was half-full with the usual late night clientele of drunks and working girls, Tresser knew he wasn’t safe. Stevenson’s left hand was still hidden under the table, no doubt it had a gun in it and that gun was pointed at Treser. “How did they forget about you?” “You wouldn’t know this, but there was a huge purge of SHIELD in the mid-90’s.” Stevenson stopped talking while the waitress delivered their coffee and they continued to stay silent as Stevenson poured cream and sugar into his cup with his one free hand. “With the Cold War over,” he continued. “SHIELD and the rest of the intelligence community had their budgets slashed to half of what they used to get. Massive layoffs followed and anything involving fighting the Soviets got shelved. It was small item stuff in the newspapers, but I followed it closely for obvious reasons. I can’t speak for sure, but I imagine everything relating to Red Harvest either got put into storage or destroyed. Anyone with knowledge of it either left or was forced out.” “Your cover was too deep,” said Tresser. “For once, the government did too good of a job.” Stevenson chuckled and sipped his coffee. “By the time of the purge, I was firmly established in Hub City as the Broker. I had information on all my rivals, my subordinates, and so much dirt on the local government.” “Did you ever find any actual Soviet sympathizers or agents?” “Fuck no,” Stevenson said with a laugh. “Just another hair-brained Cold War op by an agency with more money than sense.” “So why stay?” asked Tresser. “Why not just walk away?” Stevenson looked down into his coffee. “Easier said than done. When you get in as deep as I am, you learn something about yourself. You learn what kind of guy you are.” Tresser saw a small smile creep on to Stevenson’s face and it raised the hair on the back of his neck. There was a glimmer in Stevenson’s eye that Tresser knew well. He caught a glimpse of it in his own eyes if he passed by a mirror when he was with Vertigo or one of the count’s clients. The look of being the tough guy. The mask of being Tom Tresser: Nemesis. Michael Stevenson had that look right now. “I like being the Broker,” he said with a chuckle. “And I don’t intend on going back.” “I’m not here to bring you back,” Tresser said, raising his palms to show he meant no harm. “Believe me when I say that I’m just a criminal. A criminal who knows how to keep his mouth shut.” “But you see my position, right?” Stevenson asked with a shrug. “You’re either here to take me back, or you’re a criminal who knows who I really am. That leaves me exposed to either reprisals or extortion.” “I’m not--” “You were about to say that you were an honorable crook or some bullshit like that? In my experience there’s no such thing. You’ll be in a tight spot so you’ll let the truth slip out. Spook or not, I gotta do what I gotta do to survive. I can’t let you leave Hub City alive.” Tresser sipped his coffee and sighed. “That’s a shame. Real shame.” Tom threw his cup of coffee at Stevenson’s face and leaped to his left away from the table. He felt two bullets clip his torso as he tumbled to the floor. Stevenson was yelling in pain from the hot coffee to the face. He began to fire wildly with the gun as all hell broke loose in the diner and Tresser started to run for his life.