"He's twelve?" Nick Fury wasn't a man to often be surprised, but he'd soon learn that when Barton was involved there was always a reason to be surprised.
"Yes, sir." Phil says, watching the boy through the one way glass. Upon arriving at SHIELD's headquarters in DC, Barton had been removed from his car and sent to medical for a physical and psychiatric evaluation to make sure it would be safe to deploy him as an agent. Since then Phil had been watching over his care from their current location, observing Barton as well as doing paperwork about his search and his findings. So far, Barton had only had one incident. Moments after being placed in the room, a nurse had come in and tried to remove his bow and quiver from the room. The result had not been pretty, Phil had had to send in five agents to sedate the boy. He'd then made the executive decision that the boy stayed with an arrowless quiver. The arrows that were supposed to be in the quiver are currently at his side, they'll be returned as soon as Barton is released from medical. Which is looking promising, all his tests had come back in a positive light. For all intents and purposes the boy was healthy, now the only thing keeping him in medical was the lack of Nick Fury's signature to release him.
"How does a twelve year old have over four hundred kills all around the world under his belt?" Nick asks Phil shaking his head.
"Lack of supervision?" Phil offers up, not knowing the full answer himself. He'd been working on the Barton case for a year now, and while he pretended to know more while in Barton's presence, he honestly didn't know much past the boy's name and birthday.
"I'd say so." Nick ignores Phil's sarcasm. "He seems stable though." Nick consults the doctor's extensive medical report. "What's he like?"
"What do you mean sir?"
"I mean, you spent twenty hours with the boy in a car. What's he like?"
"Sarcastic, when he speaks. Which he doesn't do much of. He doesn't seem to follow conversations all that well."
Fury flips to the mental evaluation section of the boy's file. "The doctor says he's perfectly articulate for a child his age and displays all signs of normal development." He flips through the charts again. "The medical team says he's hard of hearing but don't say how much. I want that checked out before he release him. I don't want to have an agent not able to follow orders because he can't hear them."
"Of course sir." Coulson pages the doctor Fury's instructions. "Will you be releasing him?" If Barton's not cleared for agency work, he'll be placed in an adoptive home with an agent to control him. Coulson had already lined one up in case things don't work out.
"As soon as his hearing's tested." Fury signs the paper. "Have him settle in, then start him in training. Alert me when he's working, the boy must know something to be such an accomplished killer. You're his handler now." Fury adds as a side note. "I'd suggest you two get to know one another, because he'll be under you're care for a very long time." Coulson only nods. After all it had been his idea to recruit Barton, rather then dispose of him. If things didn't work out, he had no doubt that everything would fall back on him. Hill and Fury would make sure of that.