Chapter 3: Suzanne from HR II
Summary: Everything is very lo-tech and Suzanne feels more like a spy than she has her entire career at SHIELD
Tony Stark called her burner phone two hours after she let Doctor Banner out of their repair facility. "I'm going to give you my credit card number. Whatever the doctor says he needs, order one."
"I appreciate your assistance, Mister Stark." Suzanne wrote the number down with a pencil, on paper, and felt like a caveman. "Doctor Vitale also appreciates it."
"Bruce says we need nurses."
"I'll take care of it." She'd found a phone book in her apartment building's lobby and called around. "I'll see you tomorrow, Mister Stark."
They put Stark's project number on Phil's wristband, which had previously been blank. Andrew capped his marker and shoved it back into his lab coat pocket. "I'm really sorry about all this, Phil, but I'm getting you out of here."
"Mister Stark will talk to Agent Barton tonight." She should have done it herself but after all the chaos since the battle for New York she didn't think she could take it. She also needed the deniability. Clint had proven himself capable of just about anything when pressed. "I'm hiring a staff to take care of him. If you could check in with them every few days and keep me in the loop I would appreciate it. I've got a medical transport coming for him but I don't know how we're going to get him through security without someone noticing."
"I've got it handled. I've been holding onto a few people for observation and I'm releasing them to civilian hospitals today." Andrew slid a few files under Phil's mattress. "Most of them are in rough shape, no one will notice one more banged up guy."
"Mrs. Coulson keeps calling and I keep ducking her. She called around to some of Phil's colleagues she knows and found out everyone else got bodies back. I got a message in all caps, something about how dare we do this to her son and she was going to get Clint a lawyer." There was a headache behind her right eye but it had gotten better since she'd gotten a hold of Bruce. "I need to talk to her, tell her something to diffuse the situation, but I can't figure out what on earth I could say."
"Why say anything? You didn't take your mandatory leave, I know you didn't. I'm throwing you off this boat as soon as we get my patients out of here safely." Andrew gave her a small smile. "Phil's mother lives in Erie. I'm sure a personal visit would smooth things over."
She flew to Erie with Tony Stark's credit card and rented a car. When she left the Coulson house a few hours later her blouse was stained with someone else's tears and Mrs. Coulson had a new burner cell phone.
She had the key to Agent Coulson's lake house in her pocket and nowhere to be for two days.
