Location: UNKNOWN
Clint Barton woke to find himself sitting around a conference table with Natasha, Tony, Steve, Thor and Bruce, who was still quite asleep. There were no windows, and the lights over the table cast the rest of the room into heavy shadows. Tony was already on his feet and wandering around the table, taking in the scene.
"That was a hell of a party, Tony," Clint said, shaking his head to clear it.
"Must have been," Tony agreed. "But I don't remember it."
Bruce stirred slightly, coming around to consciousness. "Ugh...where...?" He glanced around and, not recognizing his immediate surroundings, his breathing became heavier.
"Bruce, it's okay." Natasha said, placing a calming hand on his shoulder. "We're all here."
"Wherever here is," Thor agreed. "Whoever brought us here had better show themselves, or face the full might of an angry Asgardian!"
At his proclamation a door opened, and Maria Hill stepped inside carrying a small stack of clipboards, which she began setting in front of the assembled Avengers.
"Sorry for the theatrics," she said, not sounding sorry at all.
Steve looked at his clipboard and frowned at the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo staring back at him. "I thought SHIELD was disbanded after that HYDRA S.N.A.F.U.," he said, looking to Natasha for support.
Natasha nodded in agreement, "That was the agreement with Fury."
"Well, you'll just have to take that up with Coulson," Maria said seriously.
"The son of Coul is dead," Thor growled. "Murdered at the hands of my half brother Loki."
"Just before the Battle of New York," Bruce agreed. "We were there, remember?"
"Rumours of my demise have been greatly exaggerated," said Phil Coulson, stepping from the shadows. "I've always wanted to say that."
"What?"
"How...?"
"But Nick Fury said..."
"As if Nick Fury had ever lied to anyone about anything before," Tony said with his insufferable smirk.
As one, the Avengers rounded on Tony. "You knew?"
"Of course I knew. I had J.A.R.V.I.S. working on decrypting S.H.I.E.L.D.'s files since we were first assembled, remember?" He frowned at thier blank looks. "Well, that's the last time I put my genius on display for you lot."
"Then how come you didn't know about Hydra?" Steve asked.
"They must have known enough not to put their information in SHIELD's computers." Tony replied with a shrug.
"Can we get to the point of this little meeting?" Clint asked, still looking at Coulson as though he'd seen a ghost.
"Of course." Coulson grinned. "I brought you all here for three things. First, to let you know I am alive and well. Second, I wanted to recruit you all back into the new SHIELD. I'm currently rebuilding, and I like to think it's coming along well."
"And the third reason?" Steve asked.
Coulson grinned as he reached into the inside pocket of his jacket, pulling out a pack of trading cards featuring Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Thor and Hulk fighting Loki and the Chitauri in the Battle of New York, "I wanted to get you all to sign these."