"So Lord Nicholas let everyone think you had perished to motivate The Avengers?" Grant proposed to Lady Maria and Sir Phillip.
"Yes, the death of a common ally, a friend, can be a powerful motivator." Lady Maria answered as she pressed the proper combination of stones to open the door.
"It wasn't even a lie really, I stopped breathing for a few minutes." Sir Phillip added, prompting an eyeroll from Lady Maria.
"It was only a few seconds, by my eyes it gets longer every time you tell someone."
"Yes, well when you are run through by a power crazed Asgardian prince you can tell it however you like. It felt like much more than a few seconds when I was sure the angels had come for me." Sir Phillip retorted.
"Has anyone told the Avengers?" Grant questioned.
Lady Maria shook her head, "They aren't of the seventh order."
"After I was able to leave the monastery Sir Nicholas sent me to the Orient to complete my recovery."
"And now you've come back, why?"
"Because of this." Sir Phillip dropped a heavy stack of papers onto the table in front of Grant who began flipping through them. He stopped on a sketch of a dark skinned man in the garb of a peasant.
"Who is he?"
"We don't know, but he is special, and not in our records." Lady Maria answered.
"Who put out all of this information?"
Sir Phillip sighed, "Most of it came from The Rising Tide, they've been posting pamphlets and sketches on churches and inns from here to Paris."
"How could they have possibly found all of this?" Grant asked, incredulous.
The older man smiled slightly, "The same way they knew about the object in Paris. They're good. Which is why I need better."
"Sir Phillip has requested a traveling band of agents, of which you will be a part."
"They have been trying to draw us out for some time now, and I think it's time that they were successful."
Grant nodded, finally starting to catch on. "So you want me to silence them."
Sir Phillip blinked and took a half step back, "No not at all, we are going to use them to get to him." He tapped the sketch on the table. "This man's life is only going to continue to grow stranger and stranger, and he will need help in dealing with it all."
Grant shook his head, "Then I am not the man for you Sir Phillip. From the beginning I have been trained to go in and take care of things, quickly and quietly. Not to negotiate with fools."
"Oh I know this is far from what you want Agent Ward, Lady Maria has given me a rather detailed report on your last few quests." Sir Phillip took a sheet of paper off the table and began going over it. "In combat your skills are nearly without equal. In espionage she has given you the highest marks since Romanova. However when it comes to personal relations well," he smiled, "she seems to have drawn a briar patch." Lady Maria nodded in assent.
"Given your family I'm really surprised that it isn't even worse than that, but I still believe you are the correct man." Sir Phillip finished, crossing his arms over his chest in a challenging gesture. "If I'm wrong you are welcome to return to your explosions and assassination plots."
At that moment The Shield's chief physician entered the room with a stack of papers. "Your band has been deemed physically sound. Of course you must keep in mind that Fitzsimmons have not been designated for combat." He looked over the youngest agent, "Sir Grant here is nearly too capable."
"You see Sir, this is a problem, I should not-" Grant tried to protest but Sir Phillip stopped him with a wave of his hand. "You are dismissed Sir Grant."
Reluctantly Grant departed, leaving the elder agents behind.
"You should make your own journey there someday Lady Maria."
"Where?"
"The Orient, it really is a magical place."
Lady Maria rolled her eyes, something she seemed to make a habit of whenever Sir Phillip was around, "Just a few days and I would be begging for a mission."
"Exactly." With that Sir Phillip turned and followed Grant out the door.
Lady Maria watched his retreating form for a moment before turning to the physician, "The Orient. He really doesn't know does he?"
The man shook his head, "No."
Maria sighed, "And he never can."
