Disclaimer: I don't own anything to do with Marvel. I just have fun with their characters.

There are no secrets that time does not reveal. Jean Racine

Epilogue 2:

Thunder boomed overhead and lighting split the sky in two as the empty mansion stood up from the landscape like a haunted house, illuminated for a split second by the eerie light before being plunged into darkness again. With its creaky stairs, banging shutters, deep shadows and ghostly breezes it certainly looked like something out of a horror movie.

The front door beeped as a thumbprint was verified before opening silently. With a slight creak of floorboards a hooded figure dressed all in black entered. It wasn't until the door was shut and locked that a voice came out of the blackness of the room they'd stepped into.

"You tell me why I shouldn't call the police on you."

The intruder didn't miss a beat.

"You tell me what you're doing in my apartment."

There was a pause.

"Welcome back brother."

"Good to be back."

The intruder moved to sit down on a couch, still keeping their face hidden in the hood. There was a deep silence broken only by the thunder outside for a few minutes until a deep voice that hadn't yet been heard spoke.

"That's everyone who's coming tonight. Let us begin. As per protocol no lighting of any kind is in use and everyone has been identified by the pass code. So I will get onto the first and most important question for tonight's meeting, what's happening at SHIELD that you feel is important enough to warrant a meeting ahead of schedule?"

The intruder spoke up.

"Up until 8 weeks ago things were going really well. I was doing exactly what you asked and no one suspected anything."

The first voice spoke.

"What do you mean, up until 8 weeks ago?"

"Fury brought in a new recruit that has me very worried. He's not like the other people in SHIELD. I'm worried that he might figure out what I'm doing and he has the skills to put a stop to it."

The deep voice spoke then.

"Who is he?"

The hooded figures' tone wasn't happy.

"The mercenary and assassin Hawkeye is now on their side."

There was a collective gasp of shock and anger from those assembled.

"That's exactly why I'm worried. He knows more about us than is healthy for him to know."

A distinctly female voice spoke for the first time.

"What can be done about him?"

A moment later the deep voiced man who was obviously the leader spoke.

"Is taking him out a possibility?"

The intruder's answer was short.

"No."

The female voice spoke again, she sounded very agitated.

"What do you mean no?"

"It would arouse too much suspicion if I succeeded and if I didn't then the chances of him finding out the truth are too high. No, we have to bide our time on this one if we are to succeed. We know Hawkeye is good, this can't be rushed."

The deep voice spoke again.

"I agree. This certainly changes things."

A new voice spoke up.

"What do we do then?"

"Don't do anything that might arouse suspicion is the first step. This especially goes for you S1; Hawkeye sees everything so you will have to be very careful. I want you to lay low for a while until further notice. I can't risk anyone finding out about us now."

The first voice spoke up.

"We always knew planting operatives in SHIELD was a risk. And now with Hawkeye in the picture that danger doubles, I'm still kicking myself that I didn't take the shot when I had it. I could have ended it all that day if I'd known who he was."

Hooded voice aka S1 spoke.

"Well you didn't so I now have to deal with it so shut up. Any more advice for me Boss?"

"Yes, I want you to stop what you are doing in SHIELD until further notice, we can't risk it. Play the good little SHIELD Agent who never does anything wrong and try to get more information on Hawkeye if you can. He has to have some weakness we don't know about that can be exploited. You're sure no one suspects you are a mole?"

S1 seemed offended.

"Yes I am, I'm always very careful to cover my tracks. No one suspects me or has any clue what I'm doing right under their noses."

The female voice spoke again.

"What about Hawkeye? Could he possibly ID you?"

"If he can it would only be by my voice. I've seen him and even spoken to him a couple of times since he's come in and he didn't give any sign of recognising me either way, I think I'm safe on that regard."

"Make sure it stays that way, you are not to do anything that makes him suspicious. Okay?"

S1 nodded.

"Okay Boss."

The new voice spoke.

"Sir, if I may?"

The Boss rounded on him.

"Yes, Y2?"

"Why was it necessary to kill Coulson?"

"Which I might add didn't work." The female voice added, she sounded rather sneering. "He's awake now and is going to be okay so if you ask me it was a colossal waste of time and resources that could have been better employed elsewhere."

The first voice spoke.

"The reason is none of your concern Y2. The Boss doesn't have to explain his every decision to you."

"That's right." Another female voice spoke, this one was slightly higher pitched than the other one. "The Boss is just that, the Boss. We do not question him about something after it is done so shut up and do as you're told."

"Thank you T2."

You could feel her smile and it was a very threatening smile.

"You're welcome Boss."

The first female was still grumbling under her breath but she was ignored as the Boss spoke again.

"I think that we can all agree that we need to lay low in SHIELD for a bit but that doesn't mean the rest of our activities have to stop. In fact, everything's going so well I think it's time we moved our operation to the next level."

There was stunned silence for a long moment before several people started speaking at once so that you couldn't hear anything over the babble of voices.

"SILENCE!"

You could have heard a pin drop a second later.

The Boss spoke into the inky black silence of the room.

"In spite of this hiccup with SHIELD the rest of our operation is going well and so there doesn't seem much point in waiting to move on. We always knew that SHIELD was going to be the hardest challenge, halting our operation with them won't make things go backwards or interfere with us moving forward with our plan. It is time, my brothers and sisters, to enact Phase 3. Is everyone clear on what to do?"

There was a chorus of 'yes' interspersed with one 'no'. The Boss looked towards where S1 was sitting.

"What isn't clear that you would say no?"

"What am I supposed to do? I don't want to do nothing!"

The Boss levelled a frown in his direction.

"You have no choice, Hawkeye is dangerous and we can't take any risks now that he's on their side. Warn your seconds not to do anything either. I don't want anyone in SHIELD becoming suspicious about anything. Got it?"

S1 replied but didn't sound happy.

"Fine, I understand. That's not why you put me in SHIELD though."

"I put you in SHIELD because you are one of the best I've got and SHIELD is going to be the hardest nut to crack. Don't fail me or you will learn firsthand the penalty for failure. That goes for all of you. We all want the same thing so let's work together to achieve that people."

The second female spoke up again.

"Now that we are moving onto Phase 3 do we have an official name?"

An avalanche of voices greeted her question.

"Yes, what do we get to call ourselves?"

"We'll finally get a name to give to people; it has to be something memorable like...like..."

"Hydra?"

"Hydra is already taken you great fool."

"You seriously want to associate with those ass-holes in any way? Seriously, they're so nineteen-forties it's laughable..."

"They do get results..."

"Yeh, by killing everyone who stands in their way. Seriously, even their catch phrase is unimaginative..."

"Hail Hydra? That's a classic."

"No you turkey, the 'cut off one head, two more will take its place' line. If you want to know what I think..."

"Why would he want to know...?"

A high-pitched wining noise shut everyone up abruptly and had them all covering their ears. After about five seconds the dreadful noise stopped and you could have heard a pin drop in the sudden silence that followed. The voice of the Boss broke the enforced silence.

"Seriously, I sometimes wish that I'd stayed with Hydra, I often think working with those idiots was preferable to working with you goons. As you said, at least they get results. True, they do get it by killing anyone who isn't competent which I haven't got enough people to do. That being said if you don't start behaving when we have these meetings I just might reconsider my stance on that topic."

There was a small cough as a throat was cleared.

"So, what are we calling ourselves then?"

The Boss smiled in the darkness.

"Welcome all; as of right now you are all members of the Black Hooded Syndicate."

The end. (for now)

There you go. The plot thickens as the mystery deepens. And before you ask; yes, I am 98% sure about who the mole is and yes, it is someone we've already met. I am saying no more.

Thankyou to my reviewers of chapter 10; Death is inevitable, GryffindorGangster, m klindt, CrazedFangirl13, amy. d. fuller. 9.

Also thanks to everyone else who reviewed, followed or favourited this story. It means a lot to me to know that people like this and the enthusiasm you've all shown has inspired me to keep writing.

Also, this story would literally not have been this good (and Fury in character) without the input of jaguarspot. I know I say this a lot but I will say it again, thankyou!

Also to all those other people who helped make this story possible, a big thankyou. I went through some pretty tough patches with this story but was able to get over some really bad cases of writers block thanks to help from both friends and family.

Also, all the quotes come from BrainyQuote.

As I said I would yesterday there is a list of stories which will be written some day below. I will also be updating my profile page with them if you'll prefer to read them there. As usual summaries are likely to change before they are published but I'm pretty happy with the titles so I'm fairly certain they will stay the same.

Dark Secrets

When Phil and Clint lead a routine mission to destroy a suspected Hydra research base located in Canada they unwittingly uncover much more than they bargained for. Dark secrets that have been hidden for over two decades finally come to light.

Takes place 2-3 years after Shades of Red and Black.

Web of Lies

When Agent Clint Barton aka Hawkeye of SHIELD is sent on a mission to eliminate the notorious Russian assassin calling herself the Black Widow he intends from the beginning to make a different call. He didn't think for one minute that it would turn out to be a call that would almost kill him.

Natasha recruitment story.

Takes place 4? years after Shades of Red and Black.

(I haven't quite ironed out the timeline for this universe yet so I don't know specifics.)

Also, a direct sequel to this story and a second story leading on from it are in the planning and early phase of writing stages but as of yet are unnamed. I will be updating my profile page when they do have a name and are close to being completed. Unfortunately, I have absolutely no idea when that will be. I welcome thoughts and comments about what people want or think is going to happen as there are still some parts of the story plans that are hazy and I could use a fresh perspective on.

AustralianRanger012 out. (for the moment.)