After departing from S.H.I.E.L.D. Colonel Nicholas Fury spent a lot of time underground and avoiding attention as much as possible. However, Nick Fury has never been one to sit idly by. He helped Captain America's coalition of Secret Avengers during the Superhero Civil War, and he later formed his own team after discovering evidence of a vast Skrull invasion of Earth (Secret Invasion).
This team was largely composed of the children of both heroes and villains. Fury recruited Quake (daughter of Mr. Hyde), the Druid (son of Doctor Druid), Hellfire (possible relative of the Phantom Rider), Slingshot (daughter of the Griffin), Stonewall (son of Absorbing Man), Manifold (a possible relative of Gateway), and Phobos (son of Ares, God of War). They fought both the Skrulls and Hydra, and bent and broke many rules along the way.
10 HEROIC: Fighting Against The Secret Invasion
The Secret Invasion of Earth was pervasive in a way that no Skrull invasion had ever been before. Skrulls replaced world leaders, politicians, and members of almost every significant superhero team on Earth. Nick Fury and his team mobilized to stop this from resulting in the possible conquest and devastation of our world. The Secret Warriors provided much-needed help to stop this from ending in the worst-case scenario.
9 VILLAINOUS: Recruiting Children To Fight Insurgency
While none of the Secret Warriors were as young as, say, the Teen Titans, most of the Secret Warriors were normal young people who hadn't entered the world of superheroes and villains. Nick Fury bringing these individuals into the fold and revealing their pasts to them is taking a fairly cruel liberty in the lives of the Secret Warriors. This was a fairly cruel act on behalf of Nick Fury and his crusade, and you can't help but feel for his recruits.
8 HEROIC: Helping The Young Avengers
In one of their first actions against the Skrulls, the Secret Warriors helped the Young Avengers, Ms. Marvel, and a cluster of Initiative recruits against a Skrull attack. The Young Avengers took Cap's side in the Superhero Civil War, and that meant that they weren't particularly popular when the Initiative took over.
Helping this youthful crew was a very heroic act on part of the Secret Warriors, and they even made sure to lend aid to the injured members of the team.
7 VILLAINOUS: Turning On Ms. Marvel
However, Nick Fury wasn't convinced that Ms. Marvel, aka Carol Danvers, was her genuine self in this encounter. Fury attacked Ms. Marvel and blasted her into a horde of Skrull warriors and left her to deal with the problem by herself. The rest of the team followed suit and evacuated alongside Fury.
6 HEROIC: Working Against The Dark Reign
When Norman Osborn took over in the aftermath of the Skrull invasion, Nick Fury and his Secret Warriors continued to operate separately and even worked against the new regime. Fury new Osborn was a psychopath and that H.A.M.M.E.R. was a ticking timebomb, and he didn't want to be caught in the inevitable blast.
5 VILLAINOUS: Recruiting Phobos
That said, Ares was a member of both Iron Man's Mighty Avengers and Norman Osborn's Dark Avengers. While Phobos is an Olympian god, he was still in the form of a child when Nick Fury recruited him to the team. Furthermore, working against Osborn's Dark Avengers meant pitting the young Phobos against his father, Ares. Given that Phobos was still a child at this point, this is a particularly cruel act on behalf of Nick Fury--even if Phobos claimed to be in favor of it.
4 HEROIC: Taking On Hydra
After the Skrull invasion was beaten, Nick Fury and his Secret Warriors turned their attention upon the new incarnation of Hydra.
This version of the organization had infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. (which inspired Captain America: The Winter Soldier's plot), and Fury put his Secret Warriors to work in deposing Hydra and rooting them out of S.H.I.E.L.D. Hydra is an organization born of the Nazi regime and must be defeated whenever it arises.
3 VILLAINOUS: Phobos' Sacrifice
Pitting a child against his father wasn't bad enough for Nick Fury; he also got Phobos killed in combat against Hydra leader Gorgon. It is worth reiterating that Phobos is a god and will reincarnate at some point in the future. Of course, we haven't seen the return of Phobos yet.
2 HEROIC: Aiding Asgard
Eventually, Norman Osborn, his Dark Avengers, the Hood, and H.A.M.M.E.R. launched an attack upon the then-Earth-based Asgard after orchestrating a catastrophe involving Volstagg and the U-Foes. Several heroes came to Asgard's aid, and the Secret Warriors were among them. The team took part in an all-out war and ensured that Asgard emerged battered but victorious.
1 VILLAINOUS: Disbanding
While forming the team was a questionable idea from the get-go, disbanding it was another cruel act on the part of Nick Fury. He made his team into soldiers and put them in incredibly dangerous and frightening situations, only to leave them to wander on their own once Fury was finished with them. Since then, the Druid aided a later group of global Avengers led by Cap and Iron Man, Quake took part in a Secret Avengers team then helped form another team of Secret Warriors composed of Inhumans and mutants, and Nick Fury killed the Uatu the Watcher and was punished by being forced to become his replacement as the Unseen.