Having heard Camille's story for the first time- and from Camille herself no less- Phil heads back to S.H.I.E.L.D Headquarters with all the information that Director Fury had wanted the first day they'd met her.
They had learned a great deal about Camille Saunders- about her youth and how she was told of her heritage, and when she attended Charles Xavier's academy for mutants. Of course, leave it to both Clint and Tony to be ecstatic when they learned Camille had pulled herself out of the academy because she had her own views and didn't get along with the Professors there. They liked that she could think for herself.
The group smiled as they learned of a young innocent girl who's favorite form was a Labrador puppy growing up and bit their tongue when they realized there was no more of that innocence lingering in her.
She's a woman now.
A fighter.
A survivor.
Mutant.. and proud.
It had been getting late by the time Camille was assuring the Avengers, Pepper, and Phil that no, her abuse didn't include anything of sexual variety- she assuring them with a blush that proved some of her innocence was still in tact.
She was a teenager molded into something far harder and less trustworthy than what she used to be but it still hadn't made agent Romanoff any less angry.
And Phil had only declared he was leaving when Tony and Clint suddenly wanted to see anything and everything Camille could shift into.
..
..
The drive back to Headquarters had been a reluctant one- Coulson dreading the paperwork and incident report he had to type up and deliver to Director Fury single-handedly.
The sun was officially below the horizon by the time Coulson was walking the halls of Headquarters- lingering agents no longer batting an eye at seeing Coulson staying later than what their hours were meant to be since it was common knowledge that Coulson was married to his job.
He made it to his office without any interruptions or detours, and immediately set to sitting in his chair behind his desk and getting straight to work.
And a little over an hour later- with his tie loosened and the top two buttons of his crisp white shirt unbuttoned- Coulson is done. He had started with Camille's report first, making sure to fill in the blanks of her ability as well as a very detailed description of just exactly what her stay with the anti-mutant extremists entailed. Though as he filled it out, there was a lot of jaw clenching and angrily punching of keys when done so.
With that out of the way, he then made his incident report with the Hulk. That, too, was very detailed- he making sure to type it exactly as it happened and not leave out a single thing.
And after everything is finished, Phil slips everything in their respective folders and exits his own office in favor of heading towards Director Fury's.
The halls are eerily quiet- brightly lit with no-one in sight- and he's grateful for the emptiness of the upper floors.
It takes two brisk knocks on Fury's door before he hears a barked out, "What?!", and he enters without a second thought. The second Fury takes in the folders under his arm, his one good eye narrows slightly.
"The paperwork on Camille Saunders," Coulson answers what went unasked.
"About damn time."
"And an incident report concerning the Hulk, sir. I thought you'd like to read this one for yourself."
"Well hand it here!"
That's all it takes for Coulson to fully enter the room, shutting the door behind him with an audible click and striding up to Director Fury's desk to hand him the reports. The second Fury has both folders open and is scanning their contents, Coulson takes a seat without having to be told because if anyone knows Fury, it's Coulson. Fury's going to want to talk about this with someone he trusts which just so happens to be him.
There's not a lick of emotion from Fury as he reads over everything- not even when he's done and is closing the folders once more. He does, however, clasp his hands together in front of him and stare at Coulson.
"This could go either way."
"Sir?"
"Saunders," Fury deadpans. "Her abilities can either be an asset to us or a dangerous liability."
"Asset, sir," Coulson's brows furrow in confusion. "I was under the impression that you were ready to cut her loose."
"Yeah, well, that was before she became best friends with the Avengers, the CEO of Stark Industries, and saved one of my agents before being smashed by the Hulk."
Coulson sighs, his right hand coming up to massage at his temple. "I've already assured Ms. Saunders that she'd be let go once she's gotten on her own two feet. I don't think telling her S.H.I.E.L.D wants to keep tabs on her is going to sit well with her. Hell, I don't even think she knows she still has to see a therapist before leaving either."
"Again, that was before she became close to those as previously stated." Now pinching the bridge of his nose, Coulson's not even sure how to respond to his boss. "We're not going to approach her just yet," Fury then assures him. "The girl just started speaking mere hours ago so we need to secure her with our two agents over at Stark's and then we'll approach her about joining S.H.I.E.L.D and how she can benefit from it."
Deciding not to fight the Director on this, Coulson gives in. "Of course, sir."
"And as for seeing a therapist, I don't think that's going to be a problem. If she can deal with Stark on a daily basis then she's pretty much ready to take on anything." Coulson can only nod and Fury's mentally pleased that at least one of the few he trusts still listens to him. "Good. Now get the hell out of my office. You have a kid to bring in tomorrow so she can finally re-register with the mutant community."
The following afternoon, Phil heads to the Tower only for Natasha to meet him by the elevator. His usual stoic agent wears an obvious smirk- men and women who know her Avenger alias avoiding her at all costs because when the Black Widow showed emotion, something was definitely up.
"What's happened?"
"What ever do you mean," she feigns innocence. Phil only stares at her, his best unimpressed stare making her smirk widen. Giving up all pretenses of not knowing, she audibly chuckles. "Sorry, boss, you'll just have to see for yourself."
Fearing the worst, Coulson sighs and then follows Natasha onto the elevator- not bothering to see what button she presses. Instead, he leans against the elevator wall and mentally wills the lift go faster than what it normally does. Nothing good can come from the Black Widow showing great amusement so he'll either have tons of paperwork or a splitting headache within a few moments.
When the doors finally do ding open, it isn't on the Communal floor like Phil expected. No, it's on what appears to be a firing range that looks nearly identical to S.H.I.E.L.D's firing ranges what with their deep blue-gray walls, a long counter running from wall to wall at least a couple yards once you step off the elevator, small walls marking off personal cubicles for various people to use the range at once, and weapons decorating the far left wall.
The only difference in this firing range are the golden holographic alien-like targets running around the range that explode red when an arrow passes through it. S.H.I.E.L.D definitely didn't have that and it looked as if he had a suggestion to drop in Fury's ear when he got back. That technology would be great for their in-training agents.
He can hear and see arrows whizzing by but there's no sign of the shooter. But from the way not one arrow misses it's target, he knows it's Clint shooting.
Natasha saunters forward without saying a word, hands swinging down by her thighs so he follows without question. They walk until they're three cubicles away from the wall of weapons, Natasha stopping to watch her usual partner pull back on his bowstring and release another arrow.
But Phil's gaze- Phil's gaze is not exactly on the archer.
No.
It's on what's sitting on the archer's shoulder. The hawk.
A dark brown and white hawk is sitting on Hawkeye's shoulder.
And realizing that they're not alone anymore, both hawk and Hawkeye eerily turn their heads in unison- Clint grinning in greeting as the hawk ruffles it's feathers.
"They've been like this for the past hour and half," Natasha tells him when Clint goes back to shooting off his last arrow, the hawk suddenly taking flight and snatching up several arrows in it's talons before bringing them back to Clint. "Pepper saved her last night from Clint and Tony by postponing all transformations they wanted to see but as of this morning, Camille was fair game. Clint beat Tony to her first, though, so that's why she's Clint's preferred animal right now."
"And how does Ms. Saunders feel about all this," Coulson frowns. The men using Camille just like the anti-mutant extremists did is not sitting well with him.
Shrugging, Natasha turns to him, her grin no longer in place. "She's comfortable," she assures him. "Even though the boys were acting quite childish, they made sure that she knew she could say no if it brought back bad memories."
Phil still doesn't look too happy about it but he takes Natasha's word for it. Even though Stark and Barton are obviously idiots, he believes that they made sure to make sure Camille was comfortable before asking her to shift.
He gives Clint and Camille a few more minutes before finally calling out for her, and when the hawk's head turns toward him, he gestures her to come forward. She takes flight from Clint's shoulder, morphing mid-flight and lands with a thump! right before him in a slight crouch.
"Agent Coulson."
"Ms. Saunders," he greets.
She stands straighter, smoothing out the raspberry/navy colored flannel shirt over a fitted gray tank top. Charcoal gray jeans cling to her legs and he raises an eyebrow at the source of her thump- a pair of fold over combat boots.
"From Clint," she tells him with a shrug- voice small. "He said my other shoes were too girly for his tastes."
"Are they now," Coulson muses.
"Beats me."
"They totally were," Clint suddenly appears behind Camille, reaching around her and pinching her full cheeks. When she mock growls and snaps her teeth at his fingers, Natasha doesn't bother to hide her amusement. "They grow up so fast," he then sighs with a smirk. "Had to rough her up a bit if she was going to keep that haircut."
Camille wrinkles her nose at Clint, rolling her eyes when she mentally realizes that it was always came back to her haircut with Clint. Steve, too, but he only stared. Clint caressed for some odd reason.
"What brings you down here, Son of Coul," Clint asks as he wraps an arm around Camille's shoulder, leaning heavily on her for the fun of it.
Grunting, Camille elbows Barton but he doesn't move. "I've come to collect Ms. Saunders," Coulson admits, his gaze falling back to the mutant. "It's time to re-register."
"Do I have to?"
"Yes."
Camille grumbles some more but eventually pulls herself free from beneath Clint's arm. She glowers at Coulson which only earns her a brief grin and then glowers at both Natasha and Clint when they tell her, "See you later," at the same time.
..
..
The walkout from Stark Tower and drive to S.H.I.E.L.D Headquarters varied greatly from the girl Coulson had just spoken with at the firing range. From the confident and talkative girl just moments before, she was now a shy and self-aware girl who kept close to him when people's gazes turned their way.
If Coulson felt every stare settle on him then he's pretty sure Camille felt them settle on her which would explain why her head was kept down at all times as she followed his lead everywhere.
It was Senior Agent Barry- a middle aged man with tan skin and kind brown eyes- that helped Camille re-register at Headquarters instead of having to go down to a public building. Coulson had kept a safe distance and watched on as Camille was forced to sit through paperwork that only she could fill out the personal details of.
She had her picture taken now that she was back to a healthy state, her finger prints printed, and retinas scanned. Though she looks confused as to why they're scanning her retinas, she doesn't voice her worry aloud and Coulson is quick to assure her that everything is fine.
The re-registering process is over fairly quickly and just as Camille gives her sigh of relief and follows Coulson down the many winding halls of Headquarters, a lithe brunette woman in a catsuit similar to Natasha's greets them though this catsuit is a dark denim color and not widow black.
"Agent Coulson."
"Hill."
The woman- Hill- is impassive, eyes never wavering towards Camille. "Director Fury would like to have a word with you and Ms. Saunders." And now, her stare does waver to Camille- her impassive guard breaking for just a moment to offer a brief assuring smile. "He's in his office."
Coulson narrows his gaze at his fellow agent, Hill going impassive once more with her chin held high. "Noted. Thank you, Agent Hill."
"Just doing my job, sir." And with that, agent Hill takes her leave.
They wait until Hill is out of sight, both Coulson and Camille sighing in their mutual dislike of being held back. "After you," he then quickly says, gesturing for her to continue forward.
Camille can only grumble, eyes narrowing into a glare before following orders and walking first down the hall.
..
..
When they get to Fury's office, Camille has to hold in her laughter when Coulson knocks and the Director is yelling, "Who is it," quite grouchily through his door.
Without answering, Coulson opens the door and nudges Camille forward before stepping in behind her. "Hill said you wanted to see us?"
Fury huffs, eye darting between the two. "Take a seat."
There are two cushioned chairs in front of Fury's glass and steel desk- chairs which don't look at all that comfortable but Camille finds herself sitting nonetheless. And the moment she sits, she unconsciously crosses one leg over the other and gathers each side of her unbuttoned flannel to cross closed over her chest.
"Ms. Saunders," Fury greets her. "Nice to see you out and about."
Lips slightly pursed towards Fury, Camille cocks her head to the side and glances at Coulson. When he gives her a brief grin and terse nod, she turns back to face the Director. "Sir," she nods in greeting.
Fury's eyebrows raise the slightest but he doesn't call her out on her lack of words. "I'm gonna get straight to the point then," his voice carries quite loudly in his office. Sighing, he leans forward with his forearms resting on his desk. "It has come to my understanding, Ms. Saunders, that you fit in quite well over at Stark Tower."
She shrugs, eyes falling down to her boot clad foot. "Mr. Stark and your agents spoil me," she grins, jiggling her foot so his attention is brought to the new boots. "It's nice to have three meals a day and people who don't beat me."
Fury smirks at that and Coulson's quick to clear his throat and gain his boss' attention. "Was there a reason for this meeting, sir?"
"There is," he answers. Staring Camille in the eye, Director Fury assesses her before he starts to rummage through his desk. "I don't know what your plans are now that you appear rehabilitated so I wanted to give you this." A manila envelope is tossed atop the desk, Camille eyeing it before reaching forward and peeking inside.
"Several of my agents appear to be fond of you," he says, eyeing Coulson before giving his attention back to Camille. "Three of my best agents, actually, so it's up to me to make sure that they have some peace of mind after you decide what you're going to do."
"Sir," she gulps in question, pulling out a black lanyard with an I.D badge that has her picture and a bar code at the bottom. "I don't," she trails off, glancing at Coulson with furrowed brows and even Coulson appears confused as she is.
"It's a card to grant you access into Headquarters," he tells her. "It won't give you access above a Level One agent but should you be walking the streets of New York and run into trouble, S.H.I.E.L.D will protect you when needed. Just think of it as a permanent visitor's pass."
"I, uh, wow," Camille stammers. "I don't know what to say."
"Thank you would be a good start."
Coulson glares at the Director's sass but doesn't comment when Camille thanks him anyway- she still too shocked to say anything else as she stares at her own personal S.H.I.E.L.D badge.
"Will that be all," Coulson asks.
"Yes."
Coulson nods, sighing and gesturing for Camille to stand as well. He's not really too happy with Director Fury going behind his back to give Camille access to Headquarters without speaking to him but he can't be too angry because sooner or later, it'll come in handy.
As usual, go find Camille's outfit and animal form on Polyvore. And I have a feeling the next chapter is going to be a long one. We got Thor for another visit, surprise guests speaking via phone, and a bit of drama going down. It's about time, huh?
