Chapter Ten

Phil was on the phone when the three of them sat down in the jet, Natasha taking the pilot's seat. Hughes was on the other end, after being taken out of Ross' division where he had been spying on the general, he had been assigned to finding Greyhound in Florida.

"We've got a lock on him, sir. In Miami, he tried to board a plane. He's waiting in custody there now." Finally, someone had given Phil some good news.

"Keep him there whilst we deal with Stark." Phil sighed, wiping the perspiration off his forehead. It was too hot to be running around deserts. "Was there any sign in the house of how long she'd been gone? Anything at all?" he asked the girls, or more precisely Juliette since Natasha was piloting.

"Bathroom cabinet was open, mostly empty, a few open drawers. She left in a hurry, but the fruit bowl was still fresh. I'd say Stark was there less than twenty four hours ago. We just missed him, like as not."

"Was he in New York, Barton, when you left?" Phil hadn't missed how Clint was staring at the floor more than usual, and refused to look up when asked a question.

"Yes, sir." Phil had no problem believing that Stark had crossed the country in less time than Clint had. What he had to know was how Tony had known about Hornet's location, and why the sudden move to find her. The order to terminate Hornet was known to Fury, Phil and the three agents in the plane with him. No one else. He didn't want to think that one of them had gone against the code of silence and told Stark. Natasha wouldn't have, he knew instantly. Juliette hadn't had time to contact Stark. Clint hadn't known they were going to terminate Hornet until they had reached Nevada. Phil hated himself for lining them up like that, trying to figure out who had leaked information.

Phil punched in Stark's number, getting the automatic answer phone before Pepper picked up.

"Phil! It's great to hear from you." He still felt guilty about that, Pepper had probably been the only person to cry at his memorial.

"Is Stark there?" he asked her.

"Yes, he's in a meeting right now, with Steve, uh Captain Rogers and Miss Roth. Hang on, I'll put you through."

"Wrath?" Clint asked quietly.

"Hornet," said Juliette. "Anne Roth. R-O-T-H, not wrath."

"Good afternoon, agent," Stark's steely voice came echoing out of the speaker.

"What have you done, Stark?" Phil asked him.

"Exercising our right to be a team. Are you pissed off because we beat you to it? You were about to bring Anne here in, so we went to look for ourselves." Phil rubbed his head in exasperation at how badly Stark had grasped what was going on. "This is the bit where you say thanks; we managed to find another of your Avengers-in-waiting without having them try to eat England first." Phil glanced at Juliette who held out her arm for him to see the tiny scratch marks, that were quickly fading.

"You don't know what you're doing, Stark. Hornet wasn't part of the initiative."

"Neither was I," a quiet voice in the background said. Phil winced as Banner spoke, and heard a door close on the other end.

"Well, you're on your way here anyway, so we'll see you in a few hours, depending on how slow your jet is." Stark cut the call abruptly.

There was silence in the jet. Phil looked from the back of Tasha's head to where Clint was staring at the floor, to Juliette who was having a fight with a water bottle that refused to open.

"And what do you think?" he asked them. "Tasha, Clint, you're Avengers now. Should we force Greyhound, and eventually Hemlock and Jupiter on them?" Neither answered for a long time, until Tasha span around, switching auto-pilot on.

"They were included for a reason," she said slowly. "Greyhound would be useful, and if he could be made to stay he would keep Banner stable, proving he wasn't the only one to get hurt when the US tried to recreate the super soldier. I think we need them, but we blew our chance to get Stark and Rogers to agree." Clint nodded, to save himself saying anything. Phil knew they had missed their chance, that by keeping his survival a secret they had abused the trust the Avengers had had in SHIELD. His initiative, his idea, was falling apart just as it had been proved to work so well.

"What did Bruce mean?" Clint asked. "I was the one they didn't plan, nit him."

"The council wanted Blonsky, not Banner. We avoided that, but Tony must have told him," Phil said quickly, shrugging. He pulled out his phone again, calling Maria.

"If it's about Banner, I'm on it," she answered, without even so much as a hello.

"He knows the council wanted Blonsky."

"Great." Phil frowned, that meant she was onto something else.

"There's more?"

"Ross wants to swap, Banner for Blonsky, and he might just manage it. When are you getting to New York?" Maria was walking along, her voice dropping and rising with each step.

"ETA, Tasha?" Phil called.

"Seventeen minutes to landing."

"We'll be there in thirty." He heard Maria call to someone and the pacing stopped.

"Understood." She put the phone down and Phil had to wipe the sweat away again, even as they came into New York he was still too hot. The months of just letting his organs recover had made him weak, in a fight he would be useless, leaving his agents there on their own. As capable as they were, he had always been able to match them, more or less. When Juliette held out her water bottle, he took it, when before he was known for never being seen to eat, drink or sleep when they were on the clock.

"Are we still under orders to terminate Hornet?" she asked him. Phil thought about it, then shook his head.

"Stay on guard. Tasha and Clint will be part of whatever team brief there is going on. You stay at the edge, ready in case I give you the signal. Then you terminate her." Juliette nodded, shifting her knife's sheath back slightly. "Tasha, Clint, don't leave weapons on show. Juliette's the SHIELD agent here, you two have to be on their side, or at least look like you are."

Tasha touched the plane down at the base airfield and they were out of it into a car before anyone could count the four figures. Phil sighed as he took the driver's seat, hating the idea of hiding inside his own base. Another one of Fury's great ideas, he thought, with a hint of sourness that was new to him.

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