**Aaaaaaaaand I still own nothing**
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Phillip Coulson's Point of View
Phil sighed heavily, slapping the open file shut. There was one word printed across the brown paper cover. 'STARK'. He had no idea how they were going to deal with Toni Stark if she decided to join the team.
He re-opened the file and flicked through the pages.
There were two sections to the file. The real file and the phony file (AKA : what the world thought they knew).
It was the real story that Phil was interested in right now. It had taken him the best part of a year to gather the little information that he now had together and the story was still sketchy. Obadiah Stane was the only one who knew the truth and since he was dead all he knew for sure was what was in the file…and the occasional bit of information that Toni sometimes dropped. But the sad thing was that even Toni didn't know the whole truth.
All that they could be sure of was that Howard Stark, one of the greatest minds ever to come out of America, had been unable to cope with the idea of not having a son to inherit the business. Oh there had been a son of sorts, a created one, a fictional one, tutored at home and kept out of the public eye, until even the most open-minded had begun to question his lack of…well…appearance.
He leaned back in his chair pushing the file away from him and stretching his legs up, his newly shined shoes now taking up the empty space on the table and closed his eyes.
Did the old man ever realise when he started the ridiculous fiasco what problems it would cause? Probably not, he answered his own question.
The vibrating of his phone on the plush arm of the seat – SHIELD did not skimp on anything - cut of his thoughts and he picked it up, not even opening his eyes as he pressed the accept button.
"Coulson,"
"Oh good, Pip didn't glue you to the runway and run over you with a plane, there is hope after all," piped a cheery female voice from the other end.
He slowly opened his eyes and sat up straight, taking his feet from the table. He wasn't all that surprised by the phone call although it was coming a little earlier than he had anticipated.
"Miss Stark. What can I do for you?" he decided to stay professional.
"Spill Phil,"
Alright, so it was going to be one of those conversations.
"Pardon?"
An annoyed sigh came from the other end of the line and he smiled slightly. He knew that she wouldn't be able to resist the situation.
"You heard me Phil. Spill. What is this really about?" maybe she hadn't done her 'homework' yet because if she had he had no doubt she would know as much as him right now…perhaps through some less than legal channels but she would be well-informed (maybe even more so than him).
"I thought you were doing your 'homework'?"
"I have done my research on the members of this little 'team' Fury wants to make, now I am wanting some answers. So can you please fill in some of the Grand Canyon sized gaps for me," it wasn't a request.
"Really?" he replied dryly, waving over one of the flight attendants and covering the mouth piece to ask for a coffee.
"I am not going to get involved in something I don't know enough about. Now, tell be exactly what you can't discuss without risking those pesky treason charges" she paused and the unspoken 'and I will find the information myself' filled the silence.
"But as for the rest I would appreciate some answers," she added quickly.
He sighed. What could he do? If he answered her he might as well be handing her the information on a silver platter anyway. But if he didn't would she refuse to help?
"Studies and tests on the Tesseract," he reluctantly replied.
"Ok, see I can be reasonable,"
He scoffed at that, snorting out of his nose as the professional act went flying out of the window. There was a rustling of papers from Toni's end as he thanked the attendant for the steaming cup of strong coffee she paced in front of him.
"Now, this Loki guy, what do we know about him?"
Phil began to list what Loki had been responsible for.
"No, Phil," she interrupted, "I mean his motives. People just don't wake-up one morning and decide that travelling across the galaxy and beginning an evil plan set on world domination is a good idea. It has to come from somewhere,"
Phil couldn't agree more but the sad fact was that since Thor had failed to return to earth they knew frustratingly little about the Asgardians and what exactly had caused the god vs god-machine death match.
"We know very little," he informed her,
"Ouch, that must hurt for the most well informed organisation on the planet," he could hear the laughter in her voice and smiled himself when he remember Fury's reaction. The director didn't like being blocked by anyone – even Norse Gods from a different planet.
"Last year Loki and his brother Th-"
"Thor, God of Thunder," came another giggled interruption, "Hah, the joke fodder will be endless," she chuckled.
He cleared his throat, trying to bring back some gravity to the conversation and he questioned - certainly not for the last time – if they were doing the right thing by bringing her into the project. She was smart – one of the brightest minds on the planet (the suit proved that) - but she was just a kid and an emotionally and socially stunted one at that. But then again, all geniuses had their quirks and there was nothing to say that she wouldn't be the same way 10 years from now. In fact, he expected very much she would be.
"Thor," he continued sternly, "came onto our radar last year when he and Loki nearly flattened a town in New Mexico,"
"Hah! I knew it. Freak weather has cover story written all over it by the way Phil," she crowed in delight and then she paused. "Hey, was that why you abandoned me in the lab that night? To go and deal with this guy and his hammer? Because let me tell you, making a whole new element is a lot cooler. And you missed me destroying half of my lab to do –"
"Unfortunately," he began again, sternly interrupting her, "we don't know anything else other than that there seems to be a bit of a history between the brothers. Thor returned to his planet and hasn't been seen since, without him we have no way of knowing what is really going on,"
"I'm thinking…extreme sibling rivalry," Toni suggested, "but something would have had to have sparked it…" Toni trailed off thoughtfully.
Phil sat patiently sipping at his coffee, he knew she would talk when she wanted too and he would get farther trying to knock down a brick wall with his skull than getting her to speak on command – which he had a feeling Director Fury was hoping for. It would be amusing to see how that went.
"Or…mummy and daddy issues," the silence was broken after a good few minutes and Phil finished draining the cup, smiling at the attendant and waving it – the universally acknowledged sign for 'refill time'.
"And what makes you think that?" he tried to hide the smile, he really did, but Toni Stark thought that she had the answer to everything and listening to her dump very human motives onto the actions on beings who had been alive for centuries was amusing.
"Are you mocking me? You are aren't you? I can feel you smiling,"
Maybe if he could see her he would be afraid, but he couldn't and he wasn't, so the smile stayed in place.
"Just explain to be how you reached that conclusion – you are the genius on the pay roll after all," OK so he was mocking her a little there.
"Really? When can I expect my first pay cheque?" she sounded excited.
"Figuratively speaking anyway," he dead panned, "And besides you waived the fee last year, remember?"
"Phil, the buzz kill," she griped from her end before chuckling.
"Ah yes, my good friend Senator Stern…that was the highlight of the month. Except for managing to not die from reactor-poisoning of course, that was definitely a good thing too-"
"Toni!" she was beginning to ramble now and in all honesty all of the times she had nearly dies made him as edgy as he knew they made her carer.
And here you are just lining her up for her next near death experience. Way to show you care, Coulson.
"Sorry, right. Well common sense made me come to that conclusion, Mr Bond," she answered in the most ridiculous British accent he had ever heard.
Common sense? He couldn't wait for her to explain this one.
"Believe me, inferiority complexes have a lot to answer for," she told him matter of factly but Phil found the idea too ridiculous. Ancient gods did not have inferiority complexes. They were gods, it just didn't happen.
"Really Toni, I don't think that is what we are looking at here,"
He could almost see her frown and then shrug.
"Well it was just a suggestion," she mumbled.
"And you are telling me you got no information at all out of Thunder Pants before he went back to the Land of Oz?"
He knew from eyewitness accounts that there had been a talk between Thor and the god made death-machine but no one had been close enough to hear what had been said. No, they were flying blind where that was concerned. All they knew was what Loki intended to do and that he had no qualms about using whatever means necessary to achieve his goal.
"Nothing,"
Silence. And then a heavy sigh.
"Fine, I'm in," she sounded tired.
"You are," he was shocked. But then she was the kind of person who could not leave something alone before she knew everything.
"Yes, I'm in. On one condition,"
He froze at that, the SHIELD agent in him sending up big red flags at the words 'condition'. Conditions in his experience where never a good thing.
His phone began to vibrate in his hand and he pulled it away from his ear for a second.
INCOMING CALL – FURY flashed the screen.
"I'm sorry Toni but I have to go," he spoke into the phone putting it back to his ear, "Just e-mail me the condition and I'll see what we can do.
"OK," he moved the phone closer to his ear - she sounded a bit faint, "Say hi to Dreaded Pirate Roberts for me, yeah?"
He didn't even bother asking how she knew it was the director he had to hang up on her for. He was sure she had a sixth sense about things.
"I will pass on your condition to Director fury when I receive it," he assured her instead, "Bye Toni,"
"Oh and Phil,"
"Yes Toni," he sighed. The director did not appreciate being kept waiting.
"Check your coat pocket. Night," and the line went dead.
Phil just looked at his phone in dumb surprise for a moment before dropping it onto the table and reaching for his jacket on the opposite seat.
Fury could wait a few more seconds.
He rifled through the pockets. His left and right, breast pockets, then the bottom left, nothing. And then he patted the right, feeling something stiff, before reaching in and pulling out a card, just bigger than a credit card with a note paper clipped to it.
You are what heroes are made of!
-A
He turned it over, ignoring the slight tugging in his chest and smiled softly. There, staring up at him was Steven Rogers - Captain America.
He had his last card.
"How did she do that?"
Hi! Are you guys feeling spoiled? 3 chapters in one week :)
So what do you think? I have a huge soft spot for Phil and I couldn't resist giving him his own chapter – besides you just got some more info on Toni's situation. And isn't she clever ;)
I hope you are all having a fun weekend.
:-)