Chapter Text
“Rogers.”
Steve looked up from his sketches at the sound of his name. Fury was standing at the far end of the office looking in his direction. The CEO of SHIELD still hadn’t got out of the habit of using his single name, but Steve didn’t mind, it had only been a month since the reception. It also rolled off the tongue a little easier so it made sense for him to carry on using it informally in work.
Steve stood up and followed Fury up to his office. Once inside, Steve took a seat and waited.
“Steve, there is something really important that I need to talk to you about.” Nick said, settling in to his own chair. He had liked the young artist when he first arrived on his design floor and had watched him build his confidence and his career. There had been bumps, the biggest a few years ago when he started slacking off because of some boyfriend, but that seemed behind him. This made this very hard.
“What's up, Nick? You don’t normally call me up here for a chat, you prefer talking in front of everybody.” Steve commented.
Nick looked grim. “Well this isn’t something we want gossiped about. Steve, you’re not stupid, you know that we have lost some large accounts in the last few months."
Steve nodded. A year ago, he was overseeing three accounts, but he was only working on one right now, which was AIM, a small-time rival of STARK Industries. The lack of work had meant some of the other artists had moved on, including Clint who had gone into teaching, much to everyone's surprise.
“Well, it seems a lot of our old clients have gone to a company called STRIKE Graphics. They have been approaching our client lists and undercutting us. And now the board is panicking.” Nick explained.
“Nick, why are you telling me this? I’m not management, just a project lead.” Steve said, his eyebrow raised.
“Because I trust you. Someone is giving STRIKE our client list and what deals we have with them. This is corporate espionage and I want to know who it is.” Nick replied. “So, I just need to keep your eyes open, let me know if someone is acting strange.”
Steve shock his head. “I’m not sure I’m your guy, Nick. I just want to get on with the job.”
“I know and that’s why I’ve asked you. You and Barton were here because you love the work, but with him gone, you’re the only one I trust in that department. If it helps, Maria and Nat are keeping an eye out in the finance department as the leak could be just as easily be there. Please, Steve think about it.”
Steve thought about Nick's request and talked it over with Loki before he agreed. He created a list of artists who had worked on the clients that had jumped ship. After discounting those that had left already, he was left with a list of five names, mostly those who weren’t fixed to a team, but floated between teams. Top of the list was a man called Jasper Sitwell. He was older than Steve by at least 10 years and hadn’t taken kindly when both Steve and Clint had been made project leads over him. He was a weasel of a man and seemed to have taken a dislike to Steve personally and the feeling was mutual. Still, Steve knew this wasn’t a reason to suspect him over the other four.
It didn’t make any difference anyway. A week and a half after the meeting with Nick, Steve arrived to find everything on his computer locked out apart from his internal email, where there was a group summons calling everybody to a staff meeting that afternoon. Unable to access his work, he decided to look for Nat and found her frustrated that she couldn’t do anything either. He noted that Maria wasn’t in the office.
“Nat.” Steve called. “What’s going on? Where’s Nick and Maria?”
Nat pushed the key board away in frustration. “No idea. As for Nick and Maria, they’ve been in a meeting with the board members and some others that I don’t know since before I came in. This is bad, Steve. We lost two more clients the end of last week. And I’ve been working in accounts, after Cameron left. I don’t think there is enough coming in to cover the wages this month and it’s been like it for months.”
“Oh hell. What’s Nick going to do?” Steve asked.
Nat just shrugged.
As Steve entered the meeting room, it finally hit home just how many people had already left SHIELD to find work elsewhere. The room held just over a third of the people he had been expecting. He went and sat with the remaining staff from the design team including Sitwell.
The older man leaned over to him. “I would start looking for another job, Rogers. I don’t think this is going to be pretty for Fury and I doubt he is going to be around to just hand you things anymore. Of course, you could just live off lover boy’s money.”
Steve refused to give Sitwell the rise he wanted. He just smiled at him. “Found some balls at last. I wonder why that is? You seem to know more than everyone else what’s going on here.”
There was a smug look behind Sitwell’s glasses and Steve knew that he had been the one feeding information to SHIELD'S competitors. He cursed that there was no way he could prove it, but there was nothing he could do about that.
His attention was drawn to the front of the room, where Maria, the Chairman of the Board, Mr Rockwell and another man entered the room.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we’re sorry to keep you waiting, I understand that this will have been a surprise for everyone.” Maria called out, bringing everyone’s attention to her. “Now, as you can see, Nick isn’t here and I’m sorry to tell you all that he resigned this morning, for reasons that the Chairman will explain in a moment.”
Taking his cue, Mr Rockwell stepped forward. “Thank you, Miss Hill. Now, as many of you may be aware, SHIELD has taken a downturn in the last few months, losing market share to our competitors. End of play yesterday we formally entered administration. Given that it was during his time as CEO that this occurred, Mr Fury decided that it would be better for all concerned that he step down and hand over to new leadership.”
Murmuring filled the room and Steve could tell by the look on Maria’s face that the Chairman’s comment was less then accurate.
“Now, I know that everyone is of course worried about your jobs. I am happy to say that we have been able to put together a deal to keep the company afloat. This morning, the Board met with representatives from STRIKE Graphics and as soon as the paperwork is signed, SHIELD will be merging with STRIKE. Now, as with all these situations there will be job losses, but I am hoping that we will be able to cover most of those losses with voluntary redundancies. Those that remain will have to go through a job interview for a position in the new company, but I have been reassured that for the majority this will merely be a formality. Ok, I think all that’s left is for me to introduce to you who will be the new CEO, Mr Alexander Pierce."
The man Rockwell had introduced had, up until now, kept by the door, seeming not to be involved with the Chairman and Maria. Now he moved forward and Steve could see he was an older man, with light blond hair, which looked as though it was just starting to grey. He seemed very relaxed and sure of himself and for some reason that put Steve on edge.
“Hello, everyone, it is a pleasure to meet you, I am just sorry it is under this cloud. Now I want to simply say that, while we can’t take everyone, those we can take will find a warm welcome in the STRIKE family and I have confidence that we can move forward together and continue the high standards that SHIELD had always strived to deliver. Thank you.”
Without waiting, Mr Pierce and the Chairman left the room. Maria on the other hand stayed and was soon swamped with people demanding to know how this change would affect them. Steve headed over to Nat instead.
“That’s it then. Can’t believe Nick just resigned like that.” Steve said, a grim look set on his face.
“You saw Maria’s face. Wouldn’t surprise me that there was a strong push getting him moving.” Nat replied. “Well, I’m not staying. The Admin staff will be first on the chopping block, they will have established departments already. I’m better off taking the redundancy package rather than fail an interview.”
Steve nodded. “Call Loki, he’s been after a reliable PA for months, the number of times he’s come home bitching about the latest one he sacked is stupid. You would be a shoe in.”
Nat smirked, remembering one time that she had heard his rant about some poor man’s incompetence when she had been having coffee at the house one evening. Still, it was a good idea and she was grateful.