Coulson organized the rescue mission together with Sitwell and Captain Rogers, since he was the one person the Avengers as well as SHIELD implicitly trusted. Despite his need to get Barton out as quickly as possible, he spent two whole hours going over the plans they had made over the last days to make sure, that no one involved in this would manage to escape, establishing a third safety parameter outside the second one. Sitwell might have tried to protest if he hadn't known Coulson long enough to know that the senior agent always had his very well thought through reasons.

The Avengers attacked an hour after dawn, deciding that the better light, which would help them catching fleeing HYDRA agents was a more important advantage than potentially sleepy enemies.

Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and Black Widow all took their positions and the Dr. Banner let out the other guy.

Coulson naturally stayed back, watching SHIELD secure the parameter, but the rest of the Avengers actually stood back, too. Hulk liked the 'little Hawkman' and he didn't like people standing between him and his little friend.

When Coulson followed the Avengers in, the fight was over. Iron Man, Thor and the Captain were rounding up the last remaining HYDRA agents. The Widow and Hulk were in the same room as Barton. Hawkeye didn't look too good, but better than Coulson had expected. The blood around his mouth was a hint that Clint might have lost a tooth or two, and there were various cuts and bruises visible, but none of it looked serious and the more important part was the fact that Barton's patent 'devil may care' tone was there as he told his rescuers.

"I'm just glad that SHIELD healthcare has full dental coverage."

Coulson stepped close, ignoring the protective green giant hovering over Clint. They were still in the middle of a mission, so he allowed himself nothing more than a reassuring touch of the arm, but he simply needed skin contact between them.

"Agent Barton?"

For a fraction of a moment he could see the warmth in Clint's eyes, before the younger man turned completely professional again.

"Coulson I need to report to Fury now and in private."

Phil nodded, he didn't know what Clint had found out, but he had a terrible suspicion. He pulled out his cell and dialed Fury's number. There weren't many people who could simply call the Director of SHIELD, seven to be exact, and Coulson was one of them.

"Director Fury?... We need you for a debrief in the Avengers Tower...Yes, Sir."

Clint looked up to the Hulk. "Hey Big Guy, would you mind taking me home?"

The giant looked at the Widow and Coulson. "Home," he declared before lifting Hawkeye gently up and carrying him away.

*M*I*W*T*F*

Then everything was over and the SHIELD agents were simply cleaning up. Iron Man offered anyone who wanted it a lift, but Coulson was still needed here to exchange some last orders with Sitwell and Steve opted for going back with him. Natasha agreed to take Thor up on his offer to fly her because a – she was sure Barton would be glad for her familiar face and b – the arms of an Asgardian were far more comfortable than metal armor. Stark shrugged and flew on his own.

Coulson did his best to wrap up things as quickly as possible and left everything in the capable hands of Sitwell 45 minutes later.

On their way to the tower they had some time on their hands and Captain Rogers tried to involve him in a friendly conversation. It was clear by his choice of words, that he at least understood Coulson's position as a senior handler and tried to let him know that. Under normal circumstances Phil would have been thrilled to have this kind of conversation with Steve Rogers, but right now he was far too concerned for Clint and for whatever he had found out. His answers were polite but also very short and soon the Captain gave up on his attempts on conversation.

*M*I*W*T*F*

They arrived to the tower to find Clint cleaned up and his scrapes and bruises treated. Dr. Banner was just finishing up bandaging the last cut, while the rest of the Avengers stood around, making sure that their archer had returned home.

When Coulson and Captain Rogers entered, Barton welcomed them with a mock salute. Steve turned towards Dr. Banner.

"How is he?"

"I'm no medical Doctor Steve, but as far as I can tell he'll be fine."

Phil had only eyes for Clint, his tone was absolutely professional. "What kind of injuries, Barton?"

Although the archer rolled his eyes, he answered in the same manner. "I lost a tooth and a half, got a couple of first degree burns, nothing bigger than a cigarette butt, the rest is shallow cuts and bruises. There's nothing torn or broken – Sir."

"How would he know," Stark wanted to know. "And how do you know he's not lying?"

"He knows because he has the experience, Tony," Steve explained.

"And he wouldn't dare to lie about his injuries," Tasha continued.

"Not if he knows what's good for him," a new voice added.

Everyone turned towards Fury who stood behind Coulson and Rogers in the doorway. "I was told I needed to come here for a debrief, which is quite unusual." His eye bore into Phil, who simply took a step backwards to grant Fury full view on Barton.

Hawkeye actually straightened when the Director's eye fell upon him. "I requested that, Sir, it seemed appropriate under the circumstances."

"Well then report, Agent."

"When we fought the HYDRA agents almost 4 days ago, I went into melee once I ran out of arrows. In close proximity I recognized one of the weapons and a wristband device one of them was carrying. Both were SHIELD issued objects. The weapon was a standard model and might have been taken from an agent in field, but the wrist device was a prototype from R&D, so I decided to go in and find out how they got it."

Fury's face was able to frighten even the most battle hardened soldier. "And did you find out who they got their hands on?"

"I wouldn't have requested deliverance if I hadn't, Sir. It's Quinn Mercer– but he's not the only one. There's at least one other mole, that much I could tell from their remarks and they don't know each other. I hope we've captured enough of them to make them talk."

"Don't worry, Agent, I will take care of this." Fury turned towards the rest of the Avengers. "None of you will talk about this. Romanoff – I might call you in the next couple of days."

Natasha simply nodded.

Tony turned to Clint as soon as Fury was gone. "Just to make sure I get this right, you were ready to die at those terrorists' hands, because Fury doesn't have his people under control?"

"If everyone at SHIELD was Fury's people, we wouldn't have that problem," Clint stated tiredly. "Look I'm sorry Tony, but I'm not sure if you understand what would happen, if people like HYDRA successfully took SHIELD out, you might be a genius, but you are far too much of an optimist to imagine all the consequences."

And suddenly Phil didn't care anymore, he had planned to talk this over with Clint, he had planned to maybe ease his way into this, talk to them all individually. But right now after waiting for a possibility to see and touch Clint for so long, after Fury had left, which meant they were officially off the clock, Phil found that he had lost all patience. He was tired of hiding, he was tired of squabbles and arguments. He walked over to the archer, not caring that everyone's eyes were upon them once he reached him. His hand came up caressing Clint's cheek and after a short moment of shocked surprise the younger man leaned into the touch. Phil relished in the tactile sensation of the stubby skin against his hand and being close enough to Hawkeye to take in his unique smell before he leaned in and kissed him.