While their ailing teammate wasn't back on his feet just yet, the fact that he had woken up put a bounce in the team's step. They knew they had to start planning their next move. Rogers called a team meeting to discuss their limited options, "any ideas?"
It was hard to think of a game plan when their main concern was fighting for his life in the next room. They all shared brief glances, until Natasha placed a data stick on the table; Tony quickly snatched the device and loaded it onto the tablet Bruce had sitting in front of him. The information flashed across the screen and Starks face lit up like a kid at Christmas.
"Good work Romanoff! This is practically a map to where all the bodies should be buried. One of the councilmen has been a very bad boy. He's also the one leading the charge against Hawkeye and proposed the plan to level Manhattan. According to everything we had found he was the one that voted in favour of every overkill action taken by SHIELD. This practically screams alternate agenda."
"I didn't do it."
Bruce replied to the confession, "So what? Fury decided to throw us a bone out of the kindness of his heart?"
"Coulson gathered the information," corrected the assassin.
Steve's forehead creased. "Why would he do that?"
"Yeah," added Tony, "the guy was practically as big a boy scout as Cap here. Digging up dirt on superiors is so ... so ... me!"
"Coulson looked after his people. He felt the council might not look to fondly on Clint's forced defection, so he started to put together an insurance policy after he returned from New Mexico. That's everything he found before he died. Looks like his instincts were right."
She had been surprised to find the file in Phil's room but not surprised at the length he would go to in order to protect those he was responsible for. No one could bring themselves to take over Coulson's quarters. The room sat empty out of respect, and Natasha had fled there after the verdict to try and channel the man's calm collected brilliance. She hoped that she would be inspired and find something to help them get out of the mess they were in. Sitting there at the formerly immaculate but now bare desk she caught the glint of something in the vent. Upon closer inspection she found the data stick that he had left for just such an occasion. She marvelled that Coulson still managed to have the answers to their problems even though he was gone.
Still engrossed in the file Tony said, "I think we might be able to make some persuasive arguments with these, but if this doesn't work, my vote is still for the Thor-Hulk tag team smack down of the council."
Bruce rolled his eyes and Thor offered a small chuckle; the god could go for a good sparring match right now. He had kept quiet during their plans regarding this whole situation; his customs were not the customs of earth. If they had done things his way, Thor would have challenged the council to glorious battle that ended with their heads on pikes. He didn't feel that suggestion would have gone over as well as he would have liked.
Catching Bruce's lack of enthusiasm Tony asked, "What?! We could market it and make some money, then retire from this life of crime."
Ignoring Stark, Bruce stated, "We need a plan. It's not like we can just walk in there and tell them one of their members is more crooked than a barrel of snakes."
Nodding Rogers added, "Bruce's right, assuming they believe the partially collected information we have, they're not just going to let us walk back in there..."
"We use me as bait," interrupted a voice from the back of the room. They all turned to take in the very pale and shaky Barton leaning heavily against the door frame.
"You need to be in bed," ordered the doctor.
Waving off Banner's concern, Clint took the painstaking ten steps to the table and collapsed in a chair. "They're after me. You can use me to draw them out and make the council listen to you."
Countering, Bruce snapped, "The only place you're going is back to bed. You almost died a few days ago, and you barely made it from the bedroom to this table." Holding his hand up, he put his thumb half an inch away from his index finger. "I'm this close to letting the other guy persuade you that you're in no shape to go or do anything."
"They do have an oddly singular focus on the hawk here," piped in Tony.
"We're not using him as bait!" yelled Natasha.
"I'm just saying they went from lock him up and throw away the key, to off with his head pretty quickly there. And then there's the fact that after they recaptured Clint during our jai break they didn't give me a second glance."
Barton snapped, "Look it's not really your call. If you all want your lives back then this is the only way to get this guy."
"Actually it is our call and we're not going to let you put yourself out there like a worm on a hook," answered Steve.
"Well I wouldn't be out there alone, I imagine I'd have my team backing me up. Unless any of you have any better ideas..." Silence greeted the archer as the team realized this might be their best chance despite the risk. "That's what I thought."
Romanoff glared at Clint. The fight was creeping back into his voice, but she feared it was for the wrong reasons. Not wanting to be party to what suspiciously sounded like a kamikaze run for Barton, she stormed out of the cabin letting the door slam shut behind her.
Clint stood up to try and stop her from leaving. "Nat-" he began, but then started to topple over as the room commenced a nausea inducing spin. Tony grabbed him by the elbow preventing him from colliding with the chair.
"Let's get you back bed; you can smooth things over with your girlfriend later," said Stark as he ushered the archer back into the bedroom with Pepper grabbing Clint's other arm.
"Is it wise to follow the archer's suggestion?" asked Thor.
"I don't see any other option, but the guy can barely stand," replied Rogers.
"It will take a few days to put this plan in motion I imagine. He won't be in top fighting form by then but he should be able to last more than ten minutes," added Bruce.
Steve glanced towards Bruce. "I sense a but, Dr. Banner."
"But.." He pulled his glasses of and began to clean them. "Most of his wounds were superficial designed to cause pain but not long term damage, and anything that wasn't shouldn't keep him down like this. I flushed the drugs out of his system on the first day; basically he should be showing more improvement by now."
"You think they did something else to him?"
"I don't know Steve. I'm not really a medical doctor, so I could be wrong here; I mean maybe I'm just missing something. There could be any number of variables to account for it."
Not seeing a wide range of options at their disposal, the Avengers began their plans to draw out the fourth council member in the hopes of getting him to confess to something. If they were right and he was up to no good, then he probably wouldn't alert the council to talking with the team. If Barton could get him talking and get the man to give them anything or show the council the meeting had taken place, it would go a long way to substantiating the pieces that Coulson had managed to gather.
It had been four days but the team had finally managed to put together a plan they could all agree upon. Stark would send a coded message to the councilman explaining that they were willing to make a deal: Clint in exchange for the council to stop hunting them. Rogers figured if the deal had been offered to Barton before the execution he might be willing to offer it to the team now.
Thor and Rogers had spent the last two days fortifying a meeting place for their operation. If they couldn't get the councilman to confirm the circumstantial evidence they had then things would probably turn violent. Stark was working on hacking into the councilman's private server and composing their message. They didn't need the full weight of the council coming down on them just yet if they sent a message on an open line. Banner's work load was getting lighter as Clint was getting better; he was in no condition to engage in an all out battle but at least he was able to get out of bed.
Natasha had become very quiet and refused to join in any conversations unless it dealt with their immediate plan of action. The thing that had caught everyone's attention was the fact that Barton and Romanoff weren't speaking to one another. She had made it no secret how she felt about Clint's plan to be the bait, and in turn Barton had thrown up a wall of resentment and anger. The pair had been actively avoiding being alone with one another for the last few days.
"We're on guys," declared Stark as he strode out on to the porch where Thor and Captain America were taking a break.
"He agreed?" asked Steve.
"The councilman is very interested in getting the number one threat off the street and the Avengers back to work. All I have to do is send him the coordinates tomorrow and we can get this party started."