Sorry for the long wait...I've been dealing with my colicky neice and the hassles of moving back home.
"You can't be here, we all saw you die!" Natasha said as she went pale as a ghost.
"This isn't real! It can't be! Natasha what do you slip in my drink?" Clint said trying to take in the sight of their dead handler,who was obviously alive. Coulson's face fell as he realized what was happening.
"Wait you all thought I died?" He asked perplexed.
"Fury told us you were stabbed in the heart by Loki. We were devastated by your death!" Natasha said.
"Fury told you I died? I didn't die! Yes I was stabbed, but I was out of the med-bay in a week. I didn't even come close to dying!" Coulson said infuriated by Fury's games.
"Wait, if you didn't die then why didn't you contact us? It's been over a year!" Clint asked outraged.
"Fury told me I was on a strict no communication mission. I've been shipped all over the world on missions for the last year. I thought you guys knew. I just got back on helicarrier this morning and the first thing I find out was that Tony had been shot protecting the President! I've been asking to be reassigned to you guys this whole time and Fury only granted my reassignment this morning!" Coulson said getting angrier at the second.
"Fury's been playing us, this whole fucking time! How could he keep us in the dark? We were fucking messed up by your death! Tony, Natasha and I just locked ourselves into our work in order not to be crippled by the thought that we weren't fast enough to save you." Clint said his eyes teeming with emotion.
" I didn't mean for any of this to happen. I missed out on so much with you guys! I swear if Fury ever reassigns me again I will take out his other eye and taser him so hard that he will be left on the floor drooling for hours." Coulson said which brought a small laugh out of Clint. The next thing Coulson knew was that he was nearly tackled to the ground by the two shocked assassins.
"I've missed you so much." Natasha muttered.
"I've missed you guys too, now would someone mind telling me why Tony took a bullet for the president, and why hasn't he healed yet?" Coulson asked.
"We've had quite the eventful last couple of weeks." Natasha said.
"Last couple weeks? You guys better start from the moment I was declared dead."
"Well good things he out like a light, because this is going to take a while." Clint said gesturing towards Tony, who was sleeping with a pained look on his face. Then Natasha and Clint took turns recapping the events that happened in the last year.
"So everyone knows that Tony is a mutant?" Coulson asked, stunned.
"Yep, they don't know the true extent of his powers but they know." Clint confirmed.
"And the President knows that Tony is Samael? And he's not going to do anything about it?" Coulson asked again perplexed.
"Well we convinced him that Tony has some secrets that he cannot risk coming to light, secrets Tony doesn't even know about himself." Natasha said cryptically.
"What do you mean secrets Tony doesn't know about?" Coulson said confused.
" Well it turns out that Tony is more like Captain America than we originally thought." Natasha explained.
"Wait..you mean..Howard gave the serum to Tony? When did you find this out?" Coulson asked shocked.
"Fury's known since Samael appeared on the scene, he only recently informed Clint and I, the rest of the team found out when Fury decided to tell the President." Natasha said.
"How young?" Coulson asked not wanting to know the answer.
"We believe he was 6, but he could of been younger." Clint said.
"Why did nobody stop him? Wasn't Howard being watched by shield?" Coulson asked angrily.
" He was being watched, but he somehow convinced them that the test subject was willing, and not his 6 year old son." Natasha said angrily before they heard a rustling.
"Umm, Natasha? Did you drug me again?" Tony asked sleepily as he popped his hearing aids back in.
"Why would you think I drugged you?" Natasha said her voice on the edge of worry.
"Again?" Coulson asked curiously.
"Because I think I'm hallucinating, as Coulson is sitting right beside you." Tony said looking as if he saw a ghost.
"You're not hallucinating Tony. I didn't die two years ago, I was placed under complete radio silence. I just got reassigned to you guys." Coulson explained.
" You could've given us a sign that you were alive." Tony said with a solemn look on his face.
"I didn't know Fury declared me dead. I thought you guys knew I was on radio silence." Coulson said in a small voice.
"Why do you guys keep thinking that I drugged you?" Natasha said outraged.
"Well there was that time you slipped a sedative in our popcorn on movie night, because you wanted to watch a chick-flick." Clint said.
"Or that time you slipped me a truth serum during a game of truth or dare." Tony said.
"Or that time in Mexico..." Clint started but was soon stopped when Natasha slapped her hand over his mouth.
"One more word or I'll slip a hallucinogen in Bruce's tea, and make you deal with a tripping out Hulk." Natasha said.
"Last time you did that, 'on accident' of course, the Hulk somehow ended up covered in glitter and feathers and had drunk an entire milk truck of chocolate milk. Bruce didn't get the glitter off of himself for weeks." Tony said, breaking out in laughter that soon turned into gasps of pain. The rest of the occupants in the room cast him worried looks. " It'll pass, forgot I was still injured for a moment...oops." Tony said as soon as he regained his breath.
"So what happened in Mexico?" Coulson asked trying to change the topic.
"You don't want to know." Tony said with a grin.
"Now I really want to know." Coulson said with a larger grin.
"Well we were trailing some drug cartel members and they caught onto our trail. So Natasha suggested that we buy some of their product, to throw them off. Well the cartel guys didn't believe us and made us take the drugs in front of them. The rest of the night passed in a blur, we woke up in a dirty hovel filled with other passed out druggies and reeking of alcohol, and sweat." Clint said.
"And the drugs actually effected Tony?" Coulson wondered.
"Not in the traditional sense. They really amplified my empathic skills and being surrounded by people in euphoric state of mind also made me feel the same way. But when the drug wore off the post drug low also rubbed off on me." Tony said shuddering at the remembered feeling.
"He was puking for a week. He also was plagued by migraines and vertigo. Long story short, we don't listen to Natasha's ideas of ' blending in ' anymore." Clint finished.
"Remind me not to accompany you on missions to Mexico anymore." Coulson said with a laugh.
Then there was a knock at the door and Fane walked in.
"You have got to stop doing this to me Tony! You've landed yourself in the hospital twice in the past month." Fane said exasperated.
"It's not like I meant to get shot." Tony grumbled, which brought a small grin to Fane's face. "So what took you so long? I've been here for days."
"Tony you're a council member now. The Dolofóni aren't going to let you nearly dying fly by easily. I had to gather a team to hunt down whoever's behind this attack ." Fane said cryptically.
"Who'd you bring?" Tony asked curiously.
"Half of your clan and Elder Hawke." Fane said.
"You brought Hawke? But he retired from hunting years ago!" Tony said.
"When he heard you were near death he practically begged me to bring him on the Hunt." Fane said with a sly grin.
"Who did you bring from my clan?" Tony asked.
"Koen, Duncan and Veto. The rest were on hunts." Fane said.
"So you got the brawn and brains of the clan. Its going to be fun seeing Cap and Koen together since they're both blond and have a leader complex." Tony said with a laugh.
"Would you guys mind filling us in?" Natasha asked and Tony and Fane suddenly remembered the other three occupants of the room who looked lost at following their conversation. When Fane saw Coulson his face broke out into a huge grin.
"I had a feeling you weren't dead." Fane said as he enveloped Coulson in a giant hug.
"You're the only one who hasn't questioned my sudden appearance so far. I thought Natasha was going to stab me when she first saw me." Coulson said with a grin.
"So why the whole fake death and secrecy thing?" Fane asked curiously.
"Long story short, Fury played us all. He told them," Coulson gestured towards the three assassins, " that I was dead and he kept me in complete radio silence and made me believe that they knew I was alive." Coulson explained.
"Oh that sneaky one-eyed bastard." Fane said with a scowl.
"So would you two mind explaining what's going on with the Dolofóni?" Clint asked curiously.
"When a council member is killed, or severely injured, during a hunt, the Master of Masters assembles a team of five assassins to avenge the council member. The assassins need to volunteer for the spot on the team, so thats why Hawke, Koen, Veto and Duncan came with me." Fane explained.
"How long are you guys here for?" Clint asked.
"Until we catch whoever is behind Tony's attack. Do you guys have any leads?" Fane asked.
"Yeah, we caught the assassin, but it's become a lot more complicated." Natasha explained.
"How so?" Fane asked curiously.
"Well it appears that he was being controlled by a brain chip."
"Who's the controller?" Fane asked.
"Hydra." Natasha said gravely.
"Hydra? But they died out half a century ago!" Coulson said, obviously having not been fully informed.
"Apparently a branch of theirs survived, and now they have Tony in their sights." Clint explained.
"What's the plan of action?"
"We surround Tony with a couple dozen powerful superhumans while Shield digs up the location of the branch. Then we go in and take them out." Natasha explained.
"That sounds like a good plan. But what do we do with the assassin you guys caught?" Fane asked.
" Well the medics have him in a drug induced coma right now, to stop Hydra from controlling him. I believe they plan on removing the chip as soon as they find out more about it." Natasha stated.
"Why not just kill him?" Fane questioned.
"Because apparently the guy used to be a very close friend of Steve's, and we want to see if we can get his old self back." Clint said.
"And what if you can't get him back?" Fane wondered.
"Then we deal with it then. Right now our main priority is keeping Tony far from Hydra's reach." Natasha said with a determined glint in her eye.
Then a knock came at the door, and Bruce walked in.
"I think we're going to need a larger room." Tony quipped from his bed.
"Nope, your doctor just approved of you going home." Bruce said with a smile. "And I've just finished the cocktail that should take care of the pain you're feeling. I thought it would be better for me to give you it before we get you back to the tower." Bruce said with a smile.
"About time." Tony said grinning at the thought of finally being pain free.
"You don't know how many strings I had to pull to get this in here." Bruce said with a scowl. " It's like the doctors think I don't know what I'm doing."
"Just give me it already." Tony said a bit impatiently. A grin appeared on Bruce's face as he prepped Tony's IV line and injected the contents of the syringe.
"Woah, how powerful...did ...you ...have ...to ...mak..e...this..." Tony said as he felt the effects of the drug take place. He was asleep before he could finish his sentence.
"Jesus Bruce! Did you make it strong enough?" Clint asked, amazed at the effectiveness of the drug.
"Oh yeah, he should be out for at least the next 6 hours if not more. We should have no problem getting to the Island before he wakes up." Bruce said, with a mischievous glint in his eye.
"You know this is the reason he doesn't trust any of you guys with drugs or food, right?" Clint said amused.
"He'll get over it." Natasha said. "So what are the other effects of the drug?" She asked curiously.
"Well he should be relatively pain free for the next 48 hours." Bruce explained.
"Relatively?" Coulson asked.
"Yeah, he's going to have one hell of a headache when he wakes up." Bruce admitted.
"Any side effects?" Clint wondered.
"Well I haven't really tested it before. But he may experience a few minor hallucinations and intense hunger. Also maybe an overall feeling of euphoria..." Bruce said sheepishly.
"What in the world did you give him?" Natasha wondered.
"Its best if you didn't know." Bruce said gravely. " but you can be assured it's all safe, well safe for people with metabolisms like Steve's and Tony's. If you guys were to take even a quarter of what I just gave him, it'll knock you out for about a week, then you would probably have the best or worst trip ever." Bruce admitted.
"Sometimes you scare me Bruce, and I'm not talking about the Other Guy." Clint said with a grin.
"Wait I'm lost. Why did you drug Tony? And what Island?" Fane asked obviously not having been clued in.
"We're not going to the Tower, Fane. We're going to Tony's private island in the Bahamas. We drugged him because it's supposed to be a surprise." Natasha informed him.
"He has a island in the Bahamas?" Fane asked shocked.
"Yeah we just found out about it too. Hope you brought your swimsuit!" Clint said with a grin.
"Now come on guys the plane leaves in a half hour, let's go!" Natasha said with a smile.
so how'd you guys like this chapter? Tell me in the reviews...
