I'd Rather Play Galaga

Disclaimer: I do not own anything in this story. This is my first published attempt at Avengers fanfiction, inspired by a prompt at The Beta Branch. I am not making any money off of this.

Rating: G

Characters: Coulson, random SHIELD peon

He thought that the training he had been through was enough to prepare him for anything that SHIELD required him to do. He was only a rookie, with less than a year under his belt, but his skills with computers had put him here, on the Helicarrier working on the bridge crew. It was a distinct honor, and one that he didn't want to squander.

He had long ago reconciled himself to the fact that he would see, hear, and experience things that no one else would; that his job would require him to eavesdrop and spy on people, and he couldn't hesitate in delivering whatever information he was able to gather. The safety of the world could be at stake, depending on the mission that he had been tasked with.

He didn't even flinch when Agent Coulson came up to him the day after the New Mexico research facility collapsed into the earth, snapping orders at him. He knew that the Director and the senior agents were on a mission that was probably the most important one that he had yet seen in his short time with the agency. He didn't hesitate when Coulson gave him a security code and told him to trace it; when the order came to locate and dial a very specific cellular phone number of a Russian mafia thug who was in close proximity to the tracer signal, he did it without question.

But for all he'd seen, heard, and experienced in his short six months employed at the agency, the next things he heard were something that he had never anticipated that he would hear. The SHIELD rookie felt a chill go down his spine as Agent Coulson issued the most emotionless threats he had ever heard.

The frightening part was that he knew they were not empty threats. Is this what he would one day become, if he was fortunate (or perhaps unfortunate was the better term) to rise in the ranks as Agent Coulson had? He had joined SHIELD to serve his country. Would SHIELD take away his humanity?

"Put the woman on the phone, or I will blow up the block before you can make the lobby."

How could anyone speak in that cold, emotionless tone, and still have any level of humanity and compassion left in him? And the complete sincerity in the agent's tone left no doubt that he would do exactly what he had threatened if he didn't get what he wanted. The rookie strained his ears, trying to hear Coulson's side of the conversation as the senior agent moved to a more secluded corner of the bridge.

"We need you to come in." A pause as he listened to – apparently – the woman he had demanded to speak to. "This takes precedence."

A longer pause, and then something changed. Coulson's voice went from businesslike and efficient to a genuine worry, fear, and dread. "Natasha, Barton's been compromised."

So Coulson hadn't lost all of his humanity. The fear in his voice as he spoke those last words belied his earlier threats. Maybe the senior agent was just that good at controlling every inflection of his voice when necessary…but the rookie wasn't so sure. There had been something almost inhuman in the way those threats had been issued.

But the fact that he was speaking to the Black Widow and about Hawkeye no less…no, the rookie didn't want anything to do with that pairing. Both assassins were known to be among the deadliest in the world, and their handler had a reputation for having a core of steel when dealing with them and the missions that they were regularly assigned.

The pause before Coulson spoke again was longer, and he couldn't help but wonder what was going on. The urgency that Coulson had been barking orders with since his return to the Helicarrier was at a complete contrast to his calm now as he listened to whatever was going on.

"We don't know." A short pause. "We think so. I'll brief you on everything when you get back. But first, we need you to talk to the big guy." Now the rookie was certain that he saw a small smile flicker over Coulson's face. The dichotomy between what he had observed earlier and what he was seeing now was confusing him to no end.

"No, I've got Stark. You get the big guy."

With that, Coulson hung up the phone and left the bridge with orders to keep the security footage from the collapsed facility running through the facial recognition software. The rookie turned back to his computer and started on the next grid point on his search program.

It was official. He was perfectly content to be a peon. He never wanted to be a senior officer like Coulson. Not if it meant interacting with the likes of the Widow, Hawkeye, or the other questionable "assets" the agency fielded in its efforts to protect the world.

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