Author's note: I own none of them, don't make money off them and just like to borrow them for a hobby. That said, enjoy! Rated as is for language and implied violence.
Author's note two: You all can blame Aggie2011 for this one. Not only has she dragged me (albeit willingly) into her Avengers universe as a beta and sometimes co-writer, I'm starting my own now. Be afraid. Be very afraid. Also, thank you to Aggie for sharing the deleted scene that prompted this from the Blu Ray copy with me – I still haven't managed to find it on the DVD copy.
The screens went dark above him, and Fury closed his eyes, already seething with frustration.
"Yes, we do." Of course he knew what was at stake. Having witnessed the whole clusterfuck first hand - and with a pair of broken ribs and the bruise the size of Texas to prove it - he was more than mildly insulted at the insinuation from the council that he could do anything but recognize the gravity of what was facing him.
Selvig, Barton ... the very idea that either man was suddenly under the control of another shook Fury to his core. And yet ... when push came to shove, Barton had put a bullet in his chest. Right into the body armor Fury wore, that same body armor the the agent had to know Fury had on almost every hour of every day. Then Barton had grabbed the briefcase containing the tesseract, and strode past him without a second glance.
He hadn't even checked to see if his shot had hit home. That told Fury that Barton was, at the heart of everything, still Barton - still the man Phil Coulson had recruited into SHIELD and turned into the best distance operative the organization had ever had, bar none. Barton bled loyalty to SHIELD - quite literally bled at times - because SHIELD had bled loyalty to him, and no demi-God from another universe was going to make Fury turn his back on that. Not when he sensed this whole situation could turn on a dime, not when that precision turn was inches away from happening.
He hoped. A knock on the door startled Fury out of his thoughts.
"Enter." And God forbid it was anyone but a senior agent with pertinent news. Fury forced a measure of calm onto his features, letting the hardass director exterior take over.
Phil Coulson strode in. The man stopped right inside the doors, looked up at the screens and frowned.
"That was quick."
"Yes, well, the council doesn't like talking to me." Fury knew it, knew that while he might be director of SHIELD, the council regarded him as little more than their personal flying monkey with a bad attitude - one that would sometimes take what they offered, and sometimes not. Fury had never been as much under their thumb as they would have liked, and there were times that the council simply wanted to plow right past whatever ... recommendations Fury could and would make.
This was one of them. Coulson, though, just nodded, inclining his head toward the screens.
"So?"
"They didn't say no." Fury sighed. "Beyond that, we don't have a hell of a lot of time. I take it you're ready to issue the call-ins for Stark and the others?"
Coulson nodded.
"I've already notified Agent Romanoff." Fury's second in command stopped, and a wry smirk crossed his face. "She was ... less than pleased to be pulled off Luchkov."
Fury could only imagine. Romanoff had been tracking the weapons' dealer for six months, and had been deep under cover for more than a month. Coulson had confirmed she was going in today right before everything had gone to hell in New Mexico, and the director could only imagine her response.
"What did you tell her?"
"The truth." Coulson looked away for a moment, worry crossing his features. "Barton's been compromised. She would move heaven and Earth for him."
So would Phil, Fury knew. That trio had been through some of the worst SHIELD could have ever have thrown at them, and somehow come out clean on the other side. SHIELD - and the council - had once wanted Romanoff dead. When Barton had made a different call in the field, there had been serious repercussions, ones that could've ended worse than they had and probably would have if Romanoff hadn't taken to the organization like a proverbial fish to water.
Barton had been key in that. And so had Coulson. Between them, they had the kind of handler/agent bonds Fury wished everyone in the organization did. Except, maybe, in times like this, when he had to tell an old friend just how limited those bonds could be.
"Phil...the council is not happy about Barton." THAT was an understatement. Reading between the lines of the conversation he'd just had...Fury knew they were all of about one step from issuing an order there would be no stepping away from, one that would end any hope of getting their agent back in anything other than a body bag.
Coulson's postured stiffened, and Fury knew the man had figured out what Fury hadn't said. To be fair, the council hadn't said it either. A kill order. On maybe the best agent that Fury had - or would ever have. Right now, that talent was a liability to the council, maybe even a liability to the whole world, given what they were dealing with.
But one look at the emotion burning in Coulson's eyes told the whole story.
"And are you going to issue it?" The cold anger in Phil's voice shook Fury. And that was the bitch of the matter. Fury couldn't accept that order if it was given, not if he was going to have any self respect left in the morning. The council wanted him to remove the human element from the equation, right here and now. Fury couldn't do that, because he saw that human element day in and day out. Those same human frailties the council saw as liabilities were exactly what Fury could claim as the organization's greatest strengths.
And if it meant going to the mat for a group of so-called freaks - or a master assassin whose bullet had hit only Kevlar, not his skull - Fury would do it.
"Of course not, Coulson. The kid may be a pain in the ass, but he's MY ... no, he's OUR pain in the ass.
"We'll get him home."
One final author's note: Since there seems to be some confusion, this story is a one-shot. It is complete. I'm building a universe, though, to write in Avengers. :) Just none of it is ready yet.