A/N For those of you waiting for updates for I Wish I Had Missed, they are coming. I promise. This idea just struck and I wanted to get it up before the Olympics were already over. :)
Thanks to The Beta Branch crew for the beta.
Disclaimer: If you believe I own the Avengers, then please feel free to tell that to the rest of the world. Nobody believes me when I say it.
Prologue
"You have got to be kidding me," Clint said, staring at Fury incredulously.
"Afraid not," Fury replied.
"I don't have time for this," Clint said, aware he was starting to sound like a whiny three year-old.
"This is not some frivolous assignment. The request came from the president himself. You don't have to accept, though, if you don't mind letting your country down. But there is more to this than you know," Fury said.
"Like what?"
"A potential terrorist attack," Fury replied.
Clint frowned. "But why just me?"
"It's not just you. Romanoff has a similar assignment and the rest of the Avengers will be accompanying you," Fury explained.
"Fine," Clint huffed. "I'll do it."
"Good, and don't look so sour. You're the best archer in the world. You can pull off this cover in your sleep. You might even have some fun with it," Fury said.
"Can I at least use my own bow?" Clint asked.
Fury nodded. "The officials will have to look it over and make sure it doesn't give you an unfair advantage, but you should be allowed to use it."
Tony, Bruce, Natasha, Steve, and Thor chose that moment to walk in and sit down at the meeting table. Once everyone was seated, Fury began the briefing.
"You have a new assignment, codename Operation London. You are all going undercover at the Olympic Games."
"Awesome!" Tony cried, pumping his fist.
"Why?" Steve asked at the same time.
Fury ignored Tony's comment in favor of answering Steve's question.
"We have received information that has lead us to suspect that there may be a terrorist attack on the Olympic games."
The others looked at each other in shocked disbelief.
"What kind of people stoop so low as to attack the Olympics?" Steve asked in disgust.
"The kind that you six are going to stop," Fury replied. "Agents Barton and Romanoff, you will go undercover as Olympic competitors and you four," he looked at Steve, Tony, Thor, and Bruce, "will be spectators, there to cheer on your teammates."
"Why go undercover? Couldn't we guard the Olympics without the cover story?" Steve asked.
"Your very presence at the games will make these people wary. If you are openly on guard duty, they won't even bother showing up. We don't just want to stop these people. We also want to catch them so they can't try again, so you will be going undercover."
"And it wouldn't hurt for The United States to win a couple more gold medals either," Tony said under his breath.
Fury glared at him but didn't deny it.
"In that case, why aren't all of us competing?" Clint asked.
"Stars and Stripes there has the name for it, but it wouldn't really be fair for Captain Patriotic to compete, what with his super-duper serum and all. It'd be kind of the same as someone competing on steroids. And Thor, well, aside from the fact that he has super powers, he's not even from this planet. So he doesn't exactly qualify either," Tony pointed out.
"And you really think it a good idea to put Doctor Banner under extreme stress in front of a stadium full of people," Fury said sarcastically.
Clint had to concede that one. The Hulk, plus pressure, plus thousands of people, probably equaled an Olympic smash. And not the good kind.
"What about Tony? He doesn't have any powers," Clint pointed out.
"He doesn't have any unique talents," Steve said.
"Hey!" Tony cried indignantly. Clint snickered.
"I didn't mean you don't have talent. Of course you have talent. I just meant you don't have any extraordinary athletic ability," Steve tired to explain.
"Uh-huh. Yeah, your not getting out of that one, Captain Foot-In-The-Mouth," Tony snapped.
"Tony is too high profile. It would look a bit suspicious if one of the world's most well known billionaires suddenly decided to go out for the Olympics," Fury said. The 'duh' was implied. "Now, unless someone else wants to question my orders…" Fury paused. They all wisely kept their mouths shut. "Good. Agent Barton, obviously, will be competing in the archery events and Agent Romanoff will take part in the pistol competitions. You will have to qualify but for you two that is simply a formality. Oh, and I have assigned you two a coach."
Clint snorted. "Um, sir, we don't really need a coach."
"Doesn't matter. You need one for continuity's sake," Fury replied.
"Great, so now we have to put up with some new guy?" Clint complained.
Before Fury could say anything, the doors opened and Phil walked in.
"May I introduce you to your coach," Fury said motioning to Phil. "Agent Coulson will go undercover as coach for both of you."
Clint and Natasha smiled and nodded in acceptance. Phil was the perfect choice for the assignment.
"The qualifying rounds for the archery and shooting teams are tomorrow and the seven of us will leave for London the day after," Phil said.
"And while you are all at the games, you will keep your eyes open for any sign of anything pointing to terrorist activity," Fury said to the group. "I don't have to tell you how devastating it would be for someone to attack the Olympics. Not only are there thousands of people all in one place, making it easy to take out a large number of people all at once, but the Olympics are a symbol of peace and friendship. A terrorist attack would be catastrophic on, not only a physical level, but a mental one too. Whatever you do, you must determine whether there is a threat and if so, put a stop to it. Is that understood?"
There were nods all around the table. The magnitude of the assignment hadn't escaped any of them.
"Good. Avengers, pack your bags. You're going to London."