Tony was sitting at one of his work tables in the lab with the designs for a subdermal communication system that would also allow J.A.R.V.I.S. to keep track of the team when out on a mission. He figured that it would be easier to keep in communication if they didn't have to worry about them getting broke. That's what he was supposed to be working on. What he really was doing was putting the finishing touches on a short animated clip for his favorite general. General Ross had blown his stack at learning Bruce Banner had proposed to his daughter and she accepted. He had threatened to take out the tower in his anger and only the order of the Joint Chiefs had stopped him from following through. What it didn't stop was Tony's new hobby of screwing with the general. He had sent him a pair of size 16 baby booties labeled Hulk baby first shoes, and Ross ran them over with a tank. Tony sent a tarp size baby blanket, Ross threw it into helicopter blades and burnt the remains. With this one Tony was hoping Ross would shoot his computer. He was sending an animated bedroom door shaking on its hinges, with a loud thumping sound ending with a Hulk roar and a recording of Betty saying "Oh Hulk!" he had made from security feeds.

Tony sent it off while giggling like a cross between a school girl and a mad scientist. As he started getting back to his actual work by J.A.R.V.I.S. saying, "Sir, the director of SHIELD is trying to call, he says he will be here I a few moments. Shall I put him through?"

"No, make Fury drag his ass in here. I got a few things I want to say to him face to face. Send him to the meeting room and call the rest of the Avengers. We can all let loose on him at the same time." Tony said, starting to stretch his arms as he headed to the elevator. He didn't want to strain a muscle when he punched Fury in the face.

As Tony stepped off the elevator on the meeting/mission planning floor, he saw that Steve, Sam, and Clint had beat him there. When Steve saw him, he said that they had been in the kitchen upstairs looking for something to eat after having come back from running in explanation to Tony's unasked question. Soon they were joined by Thor, Natasha, Bruce and Pepper. Just as they all got settled around the part of the table, J.A.R.V.I.S. announced that the director had arrived. They were all prepared to hurl insults, accusations and overall bad attitude when the door opened. What they were not prepared for was Phil Coulson to walk through the door instead of Nick Fury. As they all sat in stunned silence, Coulson said "Hey, great to see you guys again."

The first out of their seats were Clint and Natasha, who hugged their former handler and best friend from both sides. As they pulled back, Natasha swept his legs out from under him as Clint punched him straight in the mouth. Before anything else happened, an tall Asian woman came sweeping in to attack the two of them and stand protectively over Coulson. When she went to go after them when they backed off, she was stopped by a firm hand on her knee from Coulson as he sat up on the floor. "I had that coming May, they were probably the two that took it the hardest at the news of my death. So I'm guessing they were pretty pissed when they found out that I was still alive and hadn't contacted them."

"You're damn right we're pissed мудак. You died on the Helicarrier and I had to tell Clint after the Battle of New York, watch it crush him that his best friend died. I had to hold myself together to help him when it was killing me too. You were my friend too and we had to learn you were alive from Tony Stark going through released SHIELD files. чертов ублюдок." Natasha yelled as stalked to the other end of the room.

"Phil, all I got to say is that you better be glad that I'm happy to see you and that we had some time to cool off. If you had shown up right after we discovered you were alive, I would of pin cushioned your ass to the wall and Agent May would have been next to you if she got in the way. I mourned you and you COULDN'T TELL ME, US YOU WERE ALIVE! I know that you are a stickler for the rules, but you could of bent them this once to give us a heads up. Dick move man, dick move." added Clint from his seat beside Natasha.

Coulson got up from the floor and took a seat at the end of the table, May sitting next to him alert to any other attacks. "I am truly sorry that you two went through that, as did the rest of you. But it was several months after the Battle of New York before I had recovered from what happened to me. When I was recovered, I was promoted to a higher level and given my own team. Also Fury wanted me to work the kinks out, make sure I was still the same man before I was allowed to contact you." Coulson explained looking around the table.

"Me and Bruce have been through the research and procedures done to you. We understand what was done and why he was cautious of your mental state. What was done was monstrous and if the facility hadn't been destroyed, me and Bruce would done it ourselves so it was never done to another person again. Still I agree with Blackhawk over there that you could of at least slipped us word of your pulling a Jesus act and coming back from the dead. You made Pepper cry and that's not cool." Tony said as he reached for Pepper's hand while they stared down Phil.

"I sincerely apologize to Ms. Potts for causing her any distress with my 'death', as well as the rest of you too. But if you have seen the reports on what my team and I have been dealing with since my coming back, you'd probably agree that we've been busy with some dangerous missions. We also discovered that the same people we were trying to stop were also trying to find me to discover how I cheated death. So I've been kind of busy trying to survive and its not like I wasn't around. FitzSimmons liked experimenting on the Extremis from A.I.M. after your fight Tony. It seemed to be closely related the Centipede project we were chasing quite awhile. Thor we had to help with the clean up in Greenwich after you saved the world from 'dark elves', as described by a member of my team. May here really enjoyed the berserker's staff we found there, it's a very powerful weapon. She kicked a lot of ass with it. So we've been nearby, just supporting you from the shadows. But that's become kind of hard to do with the discovery of HYDRA being in SHIELD and Natasha dumping everything on the web. Kind of hard to stay in the shadows when everyone is looking for you and distrusts you when you show up trying to help." Coulson said to the entire room. He then turned toward Steve saying, "Now excuse me as I let out what Skye calls my inner fanboy, Captain is it true that the Winter Soldier was your friend Bucky Barnes? How is that possible? Is he here? Can I-." He stopped as May reached over placing her hand on the back of his hand to halt him from going full blown fanboy on Captain America.

Laughing at how Coulson was still so nervous around him, Steve said, "Bucky is not here at the moment. I hope that the situation changes soon so we can help him. He wasn't able to remember much about his life or me. But I got through to him in the end and Sam and I tracked him down to extend an offer of help when he is ready. He's starting to remember what was done to him and he has a lot of anger to deal with. I thought it would be better to let him direct that anger towards HYDRA then try to fight to bring him in and have it directed at us."

"Well now that Coulson has had his Captain America fix, what I want to know is where is Fury? J.A.R.V.I.S. told us that the director wanted to talk to us and he's a no show. Frickin' one-eyed pirate," grumbled Tony.

At that Coulson started to chuckle and Agent May's mouth quirked up at the corners slightly. "Well as of shortly after the destruction of SHIELD, Fury came to me and handed me the last secret base locations and made me director of SHIELD. He said he trusted me to rebuild the organization the right way. So I couldn't resist being all mysterious when I contacted J.A.R.V.I.S., it was too good a opportunity to pass up. So Tony my name isn't Agent, it director Phil Coulson." he said with a smile on his face.

"You're the one everyone get to blame for SHIELD now and Fury gets to go off on his merry way doing his super spy shit, huh? Think you might of got the raw end of the deal on that one there Phil." Clint shot back in response.

"I'll admit it hasn't been smooth sailing after the fall of SHIELD. People haven't been very trusting or welcoming to us, but we're still trying to do what we can to help even if they don't want it. Someone's got to take care of these problems, and most of the time they're not a big enough to warrant having the Avengers show up. Also as Clint and Natasha know, sometimes it's something that needs to be taken care of behind the scenes, without the public knowing." answered Coulson.

"Well I think I can help with that if you'll let me. As you probably know, I started a security organization after the fall of SHIELD, with Maria Hill in charge of it. I hadn't given it a name as of yet, but I was thinking of trademarking SHIELD to use and call it SHIELD Security Solutions. That way we could bring some goodwill back to the name. I'd like to offer you and your team jobs there doing just what you're doing now, just with better backing and unlimited resources. You and Maria would be co-directors with her in charge of the info gathering side and you in charge of field work or how ever you guys want to split it up. You'd be able to call on any of us to help out if the situation called for it or the whole team if need be. What do you say?" Tony offered as the thought hit him. The rest of the Avengers add their approvals to the offer as Coulson looked to May to see what she thought. In the few moments that their eyes were locked together, it seemed like a whole full blown conversation was taking place as can only happen with people who have known each other for a long time. When Coulson turned back towards the others at the table, he said, "We accept. The others are going to explode when I tell them that we now work for Tony Stark. Especially Skye and FitzSimmons. You think I fanboy over Captain America, they might faint when they meet you. Not that your ego needs the bump."

"Skye? That name seems familiar. J.A.R.V.I.S., do we have any info on a Skye?" asked Tony.

"Yes sir, a person with that name hack into part of my system and pointed out a flaw in my code. You sent them a bottle of champagne and a strongly worded warning not to hack in again." answered the AI.

"Of course she did. Has she tried again after that?" asked Coulson.

"Only the agreed upon monthly hacking challenge we set up to keep up with current hacking procedures. It keeps her up on her skills in her words and helps me to be on the look out for outside interference. She hasn't been in contact for a number of months that I am going to assume is when she was in your company." answered J.A.R.V.I.S.

"Well now I want to meet the person who could hack J.A.R.V.I.S.. They sound like they could be a lot of fun to get to know." said Clint while Natasha nodded beside him, as they stood up to head out of the room with everyone else.

"Yes lets go meet Coulson's team. I would like to meet this FitzSimmons person, I've read some of the reports from your missions and these FitzSimmons erson has a grasp o many different types of science. They must be a genius to be able come up with solutions on the fly out there." said Bruce as they all walked toward the living room area of the common floors where Coulson and May had left their team.

"Actually we're a couple of geniuses Dr. Banner." answered a female British voice, followed by a male Scottish voice saying, "So that why we're able to come up with solutions like that, we have twice the brain power to work with."

"May I introduce Jemma Simmons and Leo Fitz. We call them FitzSimmons because they are always working together so its easier to just call them by that name. Though I can see how you would think they were one person from reports. They even sign their paperwork like that," Coulson said as they all entered the living room area. "Jemma where is Skye? She should be here with you, I told you all to stay put."

"She wandered into the kitchen. Did you know they have a whole cabinet full of poptarts? She stole a box and a glass of milk and when to watch tv saying since you locked away her laptop so she wouldn't hack Tony Stark, she was going to use his cable." answered Simmons, as she stared at the Avengers all walking into the room. "Excuse me, Dr. Banner and Mr Rogers, would you mind if I asked for some blood samples? I'd like to analyze your blood to see what makes you have your abilities." She only stopped when Fitz touched her elbow snapping her out of going into her mind and blocking out the outside world. "Oh my, did I say that out loud?"

As Coulson face palmed, Tony said, "Oh my god, I love them. Pepper can we keep them? I promise to take care of them."

As Pepper laughed, she said "I just wondering if you remember that you use a Starkpad to control the tv and isn't that basically a small computer? I'm wondering if it's safe to leave a hacker alone in the other room."

Both Tony and Coulson took off toward the tv room with everyone else following closely, only to find Skye and Darcy watching Supernatural, eating poptarts and drinking Tony's liquor. "Hey guys, I met this awesome chick just now. Can I keep her? I think she's my new BFF, don't tell Jane." Darcy yelled when she noticed the crowd in the doorway.

"What's up DC? Stark's cable is awesome, he has everything. And if it's not on here J.A.R.V.I.S. will find it. Please tell me we're staying. Cause if we're not, I'm going to hack into city records and make myself Tony Stark's long lost daughter. No, I'm too old for that, I'll say I'm his sister, yeah sister it is." slurred out a very drunk Skye.

"I don't know if I should adopt her or lock her in the Hulk room in the basement. Oh who I'm I kidding, I want to keep her too." Tony said as they left the two young women in the other room.

"Well since Skye is intoxicated, how about we get to know Fitz and Simmons? We can show them around the labs and see what they think of a Tony Stark supplied lab." said Bruce.

"As fun as that sounds, I think me and Natasha are going to stay up here and talk to Phil and Melinda instead ok? We have a lot to catch up to do." stated Clint as the afore mentioned people all agreed.

Pepper said she was going to head back to the office and Thor said he was going to find Jane to tell her of Darcy's new friend and everything else that happened (meaning he was going to go whine about Skye stealing some of his poptarts). Steve and Sam decided to head down to check in with Maria Hill to see if she had heard any info on Bucky after Coulson asked about him. That just left the four geniuses, two of which were seriously trying to not go full blown fanboy/girl, standing in front of the elevators, ready to tour the labs.

When they arrived at the labs, Tony and Bruce started to show the two younger scientists around. FitzSimmons quickly proved their intellegence and abiltiy to solve problems when they suggested a way to improve the deployment of the energy force field prototype that Tony and Bruce had been working on. They suggested a simplfied AI to flash the energy force field on and off to conserve power. They also suggested adding a second arc reactor to a suit to run a personal force field if needed. After that Tony wanted to see some of thier inventions. Fitz showedoff his Night-Night gun, to which Tony said "Cool name", which made the younger mna beem since everyone else kept tell him the name sucked. Neither of them noticed Bruce and Jemma rolling their eyes at the exchange. When Tony asked them how they handled explostions since he regularly blow up his lab and FitzSimmons said they usually blow up half of what they worked on, Tony official stated that the Science Bros were adopting them as their Science Siblings.

"Pepper is going to kill us you know that right?" Bruce asked as a joke later on as the four of them watched Tony's robots run around trying to put out the fires and vent the smoke in the lab they had been working in, as FitzSimmons showed what they had learned about a sample of Extremis after Tony's battle with A.I.M.

"Well, now we know not to accidently spill coke on a sample. I'm just glad that we were on this side of the table when it fell off the table and mixed with the coke. Probably would of took off a leg." answered Tony as he planed out how he wanted to rearrange the set up when they rebuilt this lab.

"Coulson is going to kill us." Simmons said thinking they were going to get fired before the day was over. "We're sorry for destroying your lab, Mr Stark. We hope it doesn't set your work back too much while it's rebuilt." Fitz said to Tony and Bruce, as he wondered if they would be able to save any work.

"You don't have to worry about us losing anything. J.A.R.V.I.S. records everything and we just move to another lab. Hell, Tony blows up a lab at least twice a month. So just relax and we'll head back upstairs while we seal this one off to suck out the oxygen to kill the fires. The repair crews will have this lab stripped and started to rebuild by tomorrow morning, updated with Tony's new specifications." Bruce reassured FitzSimmons as they started waking towards elevators to rejoin everyone they left earlier.

When Bruce told J.A.R.V.I.S. to take them to meet back up with the other, they were surprised when he let them off on the training floor. They quickly found out why though when they saw the crowd of heros and agents watching Natasha and May spar on the mats marked off for the activity. The crowd of security agents were all watching with looks admiration mixed with fear, while Coulson and Hill stood over to the side watching while nodding and commenting on the two women's techniques. Steve and Sam stood off to the side looking impressed by the match. Clint was sitting on top of a weight machine eating peanuts, flicking the shells at Coulson and Hill, cheering on Natasha to win.

As group from the elevator walked up on the fight, Steve said, "Good thing you guys got here when you did. They only have a couple minutes left before they have to stop. Phil's orders."

"Why is that? I thought you guys usually spar till one of you taps out." asked Bruce.

"Yeah we usually do, but apparently the last time these two were allowed to spar till one tapped out, they both were almost dead from blood loss, had multiple broken bones, injured half a class of SHIELD recruits, destroyed two gyms and knocked out Barton and Coulson and were tranquilized by Fury to stop it. Till Natasha dumped it on the web it was a level 8 sealed incident. They considered it a draw and only fight in ten minute increments now to prevent it from happening again." explained Steve as Bruce, FitzSimmons and Tony paled as they listened.

"J.A.R.V.I.S., remind me that I am not to piss off either Natasha Romanoff or Melinda May for fear of extreme bodily harm. Also reenforce entire training floor to prevent damage from extensive use." Tony said, never taking his eyes off the two dangerous women pummeling each other in the ring.

"Wow we never thought that we'd ever see anyone who could match Agent May in a fight." said Simmons as Fitz nodded in agreement.

"That's how this whole thing started." Clint said as he popped up beside them, scaring Tony in the process (which was the goal in the first place), "We went down to talk to Hill about what you proposed about the security organization, which she is good with saying it would be great to take care of some problem areas, when Natasha and May were recognized by many of the agents and they quietly started to argue who would win in a fight and that they didn't look so tough, that they could take them in a fight. Of course they both heard and when they looked to Coulson he said they had ten minutes to fight then he'd tranquilize them both if they didn't stop after that. Then he made everyone come up here to watch the fight. I'm pretty sure a couple of those agents have piss themselves. Oh, hey they're done. See ya later" he said as he ended the conversation, tossing Bruce his bag of peanuts.

As the blond archer stepped on to the mat to check on the two women, Hill turned to the crowd of agents saying, "Anyone want to step in to the ring with agents May or Romanoff? No? Just remember this when you decide to dismiss information just because it doesn't seem possible. Just remember that either one of this two women could kill you all with ease. Not one on one, all of you at once. They are just that good. So if I were you I would be careful about boasting that you could win in a fight. Also just a heads up, Agent Barton is very sneaky and will not hesitate to report such talk back to either one of this two just to watch you get your ass kicked."

"You should also avoid saying you can shoot better than Agent Barton. You can't. Period. We will not be responsible for him proving you wrong by pinning you to a wall with arrows, long distance shooting you with a paintball gun, sticking you with makeshift weapons made from office supplies and push pins. It should also go without saying that trying to start a prank war with him or any of the other Avengers or senior agents will only end with your embarrassment and bodily harm." added Coulson while staring down the group of agents.

As Hill and Coulson walked over to the rest of the group after dismissing them, Sam asked "Why did you warn them not to start a prank war with Barton?"

"Because the last time someone started one with him, I ended up with a junior Agent duct taped to my door, several agents wearing polka dot uniforms and someone dyeing Fury's eyepatch pink. It took us a month to coax the person responsible out from under a table in the psych ward after Fury got done with him. Problem is that I later found out Barton did it all and was able to blame it on the ones who started the whole thing. The only three things he gets serious about are Natasha, long distance shooting and pranks. Man is a fucking evil genius at getting even. That might be the only reason I would feel any kind of sorry for Loki if he ever came back. Clint would destroy him in payback." answered Hill. Coulson just nodded in agreement when everyone looked at him for confirmation.

"I think I'm starting to understand why Strike Team Delta was always in the field either together or separately. You were trying to keep them away from your other agents to protect said agents from writing checks with their mouths that their asses couldn't cash. I read a lot of their mission reports to get to know them some, cause I couldn't get the idea of the Barton I know from meeting him here at the tower with stories I had heard of Hawkeye to mesh and Romanoff is hard to read no matter what, which I can only guess very few people know the real her. I was trying to get an idea of why everyone is so in awe of them and no offense, why they were on the Avengers. I mean I figured they were here because they deserved it, I just wanted an idea of their skills. I think I might be slightly scared now." babbled Sam as he took in the info they all just heard.

"Oh come on, you hang with Captain America, why would you be scared of us?" he heard from his left, just noticing Clint standing there, only to whip his head around when Natasha cracked her knuckles on his right. He hadn't even seen them move from the mats, let alone move up beside him. When he looked for May, he saw her leaning on Coulson's shoulder cleaning her nails with a knife he was sure she made come out of thin air.

"Alright quit teasing Falcon and lets all head up to the communal floors. We order some food and relax. I swear you guys are worse than children sometimes you know." Steve said, breaking the tension the three agents were creating as the teased Sam. At the mention of food, everyone quickly headed toward the elevators. Tony had J.A.R.V.I.S. inform Pepper, Betty, Jane and Thor that they were ordering food and to tell J.A.R.V.I.S. what they would like so he could order it for them.

Soon everyone was enjoying takeout from just about every kind of food that could be delivered, wile sitting comfortable on couches, armchairs and the floor as they all visited and caught up with each other. As Pepper reached out to grab a container of moo goo gai pan, Coulson noticed her engagement ring.

"I see Tony finally wised up and proposed to you, Pepper." he said drawing attention to the ring.

"Yes, Phil he finally pulled his head out of his ass and realized he couldn't live with out me." Pepper responded as she poked Tony in the side when he seemed to be about to make a smartass remark. When he looked at her in protest, she kissed him to keep his mouth shut, after which he whispered "only for you," as he looked her in the eyes, meaning he'd be nice for her.

"We're not the only one's engaged here, Bruce and Betty are too. They are taking it slow as they get to know each other again." relayed Pepper as she turned back to talking with Phil. "I know Thor keeps popping the question to Jane, but she wants to have him learn about earth a little more and each other too. I half except for Clint and Natasha to just pop up in the middle of the day saying they got married since they aren't fooling anyone with just being 'partners'." Pepper added as she spoke to Coulson while trying to use the chopsticks on her food.

"They don't need to get married, Clint and Natasha already are married." said Coulson, causing Clint to spew a bite of pizza across the room in surprise as Natasha started to choke on her dumplings she was eating.

In the dead silence following Coulson's bombshell, Clint quickly asked him, "What do you mean me and Natasha are married? Since when?"

"Yes I too would like to know that." added in Natasha.

"About five years now, you had to go undercover as husband and wife in Budapest. I just made it official. You signed the marriage licence, Hill and I signed it as witnesses. Didn't you wonder why I never asked for the rings back?"

"I kind of figured it was because I came back with an extra ten pounds of lead in my body and we had just fought off a entire Albanian mob to stay alive. As I was trying to not die, I didn't really notice not giving back the rings." answered Clint, reaching out for Natasha's hand unconsciously.

"So that's why you told me to keep the rings to use on future missions when we'd be acting as husband and wife isn't? Were they even SHIELD issue or did you go out and buy them yourself?" asked Natasha, getting her answer when Coulson started to blush when she asked if he bought their rings. "I raise my glass to you for getting one over on us. Since he is моей сильной сторонником, I'm not angry that we are married. But no more surprises, ok?"

"Well since I'm married to my красивый паук, I guess I can't be too angry. But now I got to five years of anniversaries to make up for. You suck Phil. Plus I didn't get honeymoon sex. You deprived me of honeymoon sex man. You double suck." Clint added after Natasha, earning him a smack in the back of the head and a kiss to make it better.

"So me calling you Blackhawk wasn't all that off the mark then huh? You two are already hitched. And as to you missing out on honeymoon sex, from the repairs I've had to have done when you two first moved in here, I don't think you have anything more to explore sexually. Frankly I'm scared you two have been having ninja sex in my tower anyways." Tony inputted drawing laughs and a flick in the ear from Pepper.

"Afraid you won't measure up? Maybe you need mechanical help to keep up, get Pepper to where she needs to go. Ever needed to suit up to finish the job huh?" Clint shot back, making Darcy exclaim "Oh Burn!"

When Tony turned to Pepper, giving her a look, she said, "No you are not bringing a Ironman suit into the bedroom, Tony. As for you, Cupid, Tony doesn't have any problems getting the job done if you know what I mean. Just remember who is really in control here. Tony May control J.A.R.V.I.S. and this tower, but I control his sex life and I'm not afraid to wield that power to destroy you. Mess with me and I'll have him weld your ass to the side of the tower."

"And with the knockout, Ms Pepper Potts. Clint I think you might want to back away slowly and concede defeat. She might do what she said if you poke the dragon too hard." said Darcy, as they all looked at Pepper in a new light.

Before anyone could say another word, they were interrupted by a loud thump on the window overlooking the city. When they looked outside on the balcony, they saw a broken, sparking crude robot laying on the ground. In the distance there was a faint glow from a group of similar robots headed their way.

"Missile proof glass?" asked Coulson.

"Hulk proof." answered Tony.

"It made me spill my beer. That's it. I'm calling it. Avengers Assemble!" yelled Clint as he ran to get his bow.

"Would your team care to join us Coulson?" asked Steve as they all headed to their floors to suit up.

"It would be our pleasure Captain."