Coulson was right on time the next morning, and Peter was ready to go. He grinned up at the man as Peter walked him to the door to meet him.

"Hi, Phil."

"Hey, Peter. How are you doing?"

"Good. What's Maria doing?"

Coulson smirked, amused. Peter's favorite thing was to try and wheedle information out of him and Hill, asking questions off the cuff to see if there would be a reply. The SHIELD agents were more than a match for an eight-year-old. Even an intelligent one like Peter.

"She's doing secret stuff," he replied, nodding to Tony. An acknowledgement that he had the boy just fine and that Hill wasn't doing anything dangerous – at least as far as he knew. "She should be back next week."

"Secret SHIELD stuff?" Peter asked as Tony bundled him up into his coat.

"All SHIELD stuff is secret," Coulson told him, making Tony smile, too. "I thought you knew that by now."

Peter laughed.

"Yeah."

"Have a good day," Tony told the boy. "I'll talk to you at lunch."

Peter hugged him goodbye.

"Okay."

"I'll be with him all day," the SHIELD agent told him.

"Thanks."

OOOOOOO

"Well?"

Maria hill's image was a little staticky, a reminder that she was several thousand miles away. It didn't hide the annoyed expression on her face, though.

"I'm confused," she admitted.

"About what?" Fury asked.

"Rumlow's report showed that the cartel was on the move."

"Correct. That is my understanding."

"No one's here, Nick," she said, shrugging. "My guys on the ground, here, are saying everything's been quiet for weeks."

"That doesn't make any sense. Is their intel wrong?"

"I'm following up on it, now," she replied. "I'll know more in an hour, or so."

"Check back in when you have something," Nick told her.

"Roger."

The screen went dark, and Fury looked over at Romanoff, who was standing just off to the side of the video call.

"That's odd," she said, frowning. "Rumlow's never been wrong, before."

"No. He hasn't," he agreed. His dark eye was serious – as was his expression. "Do some follow up of your own. I want to verify his contacts on this one."

"Yeah."

She left the room and Steve Rogers frowned, too.

'What are you thinking, Nick?" he asked.

"I'm thinking that I don't like wild goose chases," Fury told him.

"It could be a breakdown in communications."

"It had better be," was the reply. "Or I'm going to be very annoyed."

OOOOOOOO

"How's your day going?"

Peter smiled.

"Good. How about you?"

"I'm mapping out the specs for the new suit."

"Wow."

"Yeah." Tony loved it when Peter looked so impressed, even by something so mundane. "JARVIS will start the manufacturing sometime this weekend."

"Can I watch?"

"There won't be much to see," Tony told him. "But, sure. We'll swing by and take a peek at things once it's far enough along that the outline is discernable."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome. Anything I need to know, Coulson?"

The SHIELD agent shook his head, looking around the lunchroom before turning his attention to Peter's phone's display.

"Everything looks good. Easy day."

Fridays were always relaxed since everyone was looking forward to the weekend. Even though traffic was a bitch, the usual honking horns and curses were more cheerful than Monday's version.

"We'll see you guys around three thirty, then," Tony said.

"Right."

"Bye, buddy."

"Bye, dad."

The screen went dark and Peter grinned up at Coulson.

"Do you want my pudding cup?"

The agent smiled at the offer, but shook his head.

"Thanks, but you eat it," he replied, pulling out his own lunch. "I have one, too."

"Okay."

Peter turned his attention to his lunch, but he was looking forward to his last class, and talking to the others about Monday after school. He wondered if Tony had any plans for the weekend for them. He hadn't mentioned anything, but Peter was good with staying at home, if that was what Tony wanted to do. Or maybe seeing of Ned could come over.

That would be pretty fun.

OOOOOOOOOO

Phil Coulson was leaning against the wall near the door to Peter's last class of the day. He was watching the foot traffic through the hallway, not really too concerned, but always aware that something could happen at any moment, and trying to make sure he was ready for it. There were only about ten minutes left before the bell rang, and he would be able to get the boy in the car, and then he'd probably hear all about the Mars rover assignment on the way to the tower (it was all he'd heard about at lunch, too). He didn't mind; Coulson thought Peter was a cute kid, and it was definitely more enjoyable to hang out on detail with him than it was to interact with some of the sleazy people that he normally had to deal with.

The SHIELD agent looked at his watch, and then peeked through the small glass window of the classroom, watching as Peter spoke with a couple of the students in the room. Before he could do more than make sure that the boy was still in the right place, and wasn't being hassled, a movement in his peripheral vision made him turn his head, and he frowned when he saw Sitwell and Rumlow walking toward him, both men looking around, uncertainly, and Rumlow actually walking with his hand on his concealed sidearm.

"What's up?" he asked when they drew close enough to speak to without shouting.

Sitwell frowned, looking around, again, and then through the small window.

"We have a potential security threat."

"What?"

"Come with me."

Coulson frowned.

"No. I'm Mini Me's primary, today."

Which meant he didn't leave unless he was properly relieved. Sitwell knew the drill.

"Rumlow will watch him. We're only going as far as the bathroom."

"What? Why?"

Sitwell looked around, again.

"I can't tell you out here, Phil. There are too many people. It's important."

No one was in the hallway, though.

"Let me call Fury."

"He's the one that sent us out here," Rumlow said, scowling. "Why else would we be here?"

Coulson looked at his watch.

"Three minutes," he said. "Then I'll take Peter to the tower and-"

"You're wasting that three minutes," his friend interrupted. "Let's go."

The other SHIELD agent took hold of his arm, and Rumlow walked over to position himself in the same place that Coulson had been standing, his expression serious as he took over for Coulson. Phil nodded and allowed himself to be led to the boy's bathroom, which was only a couple of doors down, but was a lot more private than the hallway – or the classrooms.

"What's going on?" Coulson asked, walking through the door and automatically looking around for anyone who might be listening in on their conversation. "What's the threat?"

Sitwell was looking around, too. He noted that there wasn't anyone else in the bathroom, and as the door closed he gave his friend an odd look.

"Me."

Despite the fact that he was a trained SHIELD agent, and was incredibly experienced (otherwise he'd never have been chosen to guard Peter) Coulson wasn't prepared for an attack by someone that he considered his friend. He had only enough time to register what he was hearing, and process it before Sitwell's hand was moving, and the blow landed. He was unconscious before he hit the floor, and the other SHIELD agent shook his head, looking down at the man on the floor with a mixture of contempt and amusement.

"Should have seen that one coming, Phil," he said, putting the brass knuckles back into his jacket pocket.