Chapter Ten

Natasha sat at the long empty conference table, leaning back but not quite putting her feet up. Stark would laugh at that, she thought, to come in and find her lounging there waiting for them. She had asked Phil if the building had been designed especially for the Avengers, of course he hadn't answered her but it was a little too conveniently sized to be an accident. Its very location, detached from the main complex with its own entrance into the SHIELD compound screamed high level secrecy. The conference room table had enough room for eleven, a large semi-circle similar to the one on the Helicarrier Bridge. The corridor outside led to eight almost identical rooms, walking past Natasha had managed to work out that at least three had double thickness walls. She didn't need to ask who they were for.

Fury hadn't been so kind as to tell them what they were revealing to the Avengers that morning. Natasha was under the impression that it was just Phil's survival, and that the Initiative would be saved for another time. She shivered slightly at the file Juliette had passed to her three days ago, detailing out what SHIELD had been able to find out about one of the missing Avengers. Juliette had hacked it from the KGB records, Natasha definitely didn't want to know how her partner had gotten a hold of the information or at what cost.

"Well it's nice to see this place finally used for something," Phil said brightly as he walked in. Inside the building he could roam around freely, the cameras weren't linked to the main base and there was no one inside, not even cleaners who weren't trusted to keep his survival a secret.

"What else would it have been used for?" she asked immediately.

"Extra barracks." That was a lie outright. "You should have gone with Clint to get the others." Clint had left the base again after meeting Phil; they had had their handler back from the dead for only a week before their planned meeting with the Avengers. The four of them had been together to talk and plan things, but Clint hadn't been given that much time to get over the shock of not having helped someone kill his mentor. As always, Fury didn't really get the idea of compassionate leave. Natasha on the other hand, hadn't left, and hadn't been questioned since her presence at the base wasn't a security risk.

"It's not that hard to herd them in the right direction, Stark wants answers as to what we're keeping from him, the Captain comes as orders and Banner will tag along out of curiosity. Clint can handle it." She shrugged, giving reasons she almost believed herself. Diplomatically, Phil took his seat at one end of the horse shoe table, nearest where Fury would stand. "Are they just going to walk in here and see you then? No quiet explanation in a side room first?" Phil shook his head, taking out the ever present briefcase and files.

"They can wait outside, we're telling Stark first, then Banner and Captain Rogers will come in," he answered. "And Juliette had guts to sit there in front of you both; she was counting on at least one of you not reacting violently. She's good, but she's not good enough to deal with you both. Here, she won't be so outnumbered."

The door opened to reveal Fury, making Natasha sit up straighter as he marched in, followed by Juliette.

"The Avengers have arrived," the director informed them. The space between the ends of the horse shoe seemed completely filled up with his presence, even though he wasn't trying to be commanding. That would be turned on when he had a roomful of unruly superheroes to deal with. Natasha saw Juliette hesitate, trying to find a neutral place to sit, and nodded towards the seat next to her. As one, the two agents turned in their chairs to face the door.

Moments later, it opened halfway and Clint walked in, followed by a surly looking Tony Stark. The door was shut immediately behind them

"Okay, I get the whole super spy thing going on but separating us really-" Stark caught sight of Phil sitting calmly at the table. "What. The. Fuck?"

"Surprise?" Clint tried with a smirk. Natasha could almost see him standing straighter, a weight lifted off of him.

"The hell, Barton!" Stark spat angrily before rounding on Phil. "You're dead! You died, we bloody saw you dead."

"No," Phil answered calmly. "You saw me critically ill and unconscious, lain out in a coffin to make the world think I was dead." Stark stared at him for a minute, glowering and almost spluttering at them all.

"What the hell?" he asked loudly, prompting Natasha to assume that the conference room was sound proofed.

"You needed a kick to work together," Fury told him. "That was your kick."

"You knew!" Stark rounded on the three agents in the room, and for one moment it looked like he would make the mistake of punching Clint.

"Not for that long," answered Natasha. "So, are you going to get over it or do you need a few moments?"

"Shut up, Romanoff. Like you didn't flip when you saw a dead man walking." Natasha would have bit back if not for Juliette's warning hand placed gently on her knee for half a second.

"Agent Barton, please bring the others in, I think Mr Stark has recovered from the shock." Stark glared at them all, before walking round to the far side of the table and putting as much distance between him and Phil as possible. Anger drifted off of him like a red hot sweat.

Clint let Steve and Banner in, followed by Hill who shut the door firmly behind them all. The Captain stopped dead, staring at Phil with his mouth open. He was so adorable Natasha heard Juliette snicker quietly. Banner, on the other hand took the sight in and gave Phil a friendly nod, immediately going to take the chair closest to where Tony was standing as if seeing someone who was meant to be dead and buried was every day.

Banner had known, or suspected, which made Natasha curious. Stark was the one who hacked SHIELD's files, so how did Banner know?

"Agent Coulson," Steve finally managed to cough out, his eyes popping comic book style out of his head. "You look well."

"Understatement of the century," Stark muttered under his breath. "They lied to us, Spangles. The blood soaked cards, the whole death wish speech. All of it." Phil gave Fury the tiniest of glares; he was slightly upset about the damage to his cards, the blood refused to come out. Absently Natasha wondered whose blood it was, Fury wouldn't have gone back to the prison cell and found Phil's own blood, more likely he would have nicked his finger or something. "We needed a kick, apparently, and making us all mourn was the only way they could come up with." Steve took that all in silence, looking around slowly. There was the faintest hint of hurt in his expression, they had lied to him after all, but it was well hidden. Natasha had to admire that, she hadn't been so composed and she was trained to be.

"Is that why we were called here?" Steve asked, trying so obviously to take it in his stride like Banner had.

"Partly." Fury gestured to the seats. Hill had taken the one opposite Phil at the end of the table, so that Fury's two top agents were nearest to him. Juliette and Steve sat between Natasha and Hill, facing Clint and then a few empty spaces isolating Banner and Stark. A screen came on in the wall; Fury stepped to one side to let them see it. At the same time Phil handed Clint a file, which he slid along to Banner.

"You're here so that we can tell you about the Avengers Initiative," elaborated Fury. On the screen was their little A logo.

"Yeah, bursting your bubble here, Nick, but we are the Avengers, we know about them," Stark called from his side of the room.

"Then you'll know who's meant to fill the empty chairs here." They stared at him, Stark open mouthed, Steve with a frown and Clint looking around at the unoccupied chairs in confusion.

"What?"

"You're not the only ones, Stark," Hill told him. "There are eight of you." Four Avengers looked at her in surprise.

Just to clear it up, Natasha swore in Russian two chapters back, according to Google which I know isn't the best so if any of you can swear in Russian, please drop me a line.