A/N this ones a little shorter, but expect some more Coulson to come!

Bagel Thursday

PeechTao

Chapter 13

There was a veritable silent war waging in the lab when Natasha and Clint walked in off the elevator. Silent only to Clint, that is. From Bruce's music player came the cords by 2 Cellos flowing in dashing crescendo to "Smooth Criminal". From Tony's end the Black Sabbath version of Iron Man (an ego trip if ever on existed). The combination of the two polar songs created a range of aural assault so profound Natasha was unsure how either man was working effectively. It was no surprise then that both were so consumed in work and music that they missed Natasha's entry. Clint picked up Tony's discarded repulser and tossed it across the room at them. The science pair instantly switched off their dueling musical prowess. One look at Clint, and they dropped everything to run to his side. They were wearing a cochlear-like device and took a moment to pluck a set of plugs out of their ears.

"Sorry, we were testing the sound quality." Bruce said. "I didn't hear you come in. What happened? Clint, did someone hit you with a car?"

"What's he saying?" Clint asked Natasha.

"Trouble seeing. A SHIELD agent just tried to beat his brains in." Natasha explained.

"Oh my God, you weren't kidding about that?" Tony asked.

Natasha shot him a look. "Really? Yeah, we joke about that plenty."

"Sit him down. Clint, put this on. Can you hear me? Good. Tony, pass me that light from the desk. JARVIS turn down the overheads. What did he hit you with, a brick?" Bruce grabbed the light from Tony's hands and tested Clint's reflexes with it.

"His fist feels like a brick. And he's got a hard head too. And he cheated. I think he had a tazor. Then there was the knife he stabbed me with and the gun he slapped me with. I did punch him in the Twinkies though."

"You got stabbed?!" Bruce started yanking up Clint's shirt.

Natasha snorted, but tried not to show it. Honestly dirty fighting she considered mainly appropriate for only herself. When Clint resorted to it (and Ward no less), the situation must have been either personal, or dire. In this case most likely both. But then she did have more on her mind than just picking Clint's half beaten to death body off the ground.

Coulson. Not only did she now come to find he was alive, but that meant the Avengers Initiative was founded on another of Director Fury's spy schemes. He'd deceived all of them. It wasn't the first time. But this was more than that. Coulson had touched all of their lives. He'd glued them together as friends and dare say even family. How could she possibly not tell them this?

No. Clint had to keep his secret and she kept her own. Tony could never deal with this lie, especially after his reaction to Clint's. Steve would probably never have faith in another human ever again. Bruce? Bruce would run off to some lonely place. Clint would disappear to obscurity for all of time.

"Tasha?"

She looked over. "Oh? What?"

Clint was smiling at her. The lights were turned up again and Bruce was inspecting the larger breaks in his chest.

"I said what did you do with Ward? I didn't even see him around."

"I shot him and threw him in the street. I hope a truck ran him over. Maybe he got carried off by some dogs. Either way he's not coming back."

"What are we going to do, though? SHIELD knows now. It won't be long before it all comes out."

"You never know. Maybe something will turn up. In the meantime, it is Bagel Thursday. And I want a bagel now that we've lost the originals." She turned with a light wave. "I'm going to go grab Steve and try this all over again."

: ( : ) : ( : ) :

When Natasha and Steve returned from the second attempt at completing Bagel Thursday, they found the science twins and Clint parked in the living room. Clint was lying on the floor with a pillow beneath his head and a bag of ice over his face. A second bag of ice was on his chest. He waved at their entry, leading them to believe he must be wearing one of the new cochlear devices.

"What happened got sick of the lab?" Natasha asked, dropping breakfast on the coffee table. She handed Bruce a coffee.

"Clint was. We felt a little strange about leaving him up here by himself." Bruce admitted.

Natasha understood his meaning. Bruce and Tony were afraid that if they left Clint alone, unprotected, that they may come back to see a dead body. Though Natasha trusted Coulson with everything in life, she had to admit the thought crossed her mind. The others knew nothing about Phil secretly working to solve their little SHIELD problem. In general a little extra caution was well worth it.

Steve tapped Clint's foot, spurring the pained Avenger to pull the bag away from his face. At the sight of his Steve shook his head. "Wow, looks like someone took a Louisville to your face."

Clint cocked a lopsided grin passed his swollen lip. "Feels like that. You know he stabbed me? Right here." Clint lifted the second ice pack to show off the new set of mummy gauze around his chest.

Steve handed Clint his food. "You really were serious, huh?"

"Why is everyone so surprised at that? Now you get why I didn't go around sharing?" Clint unwrapped his food then fished the two packets of sugar from the bottom of the bag Natasha was kind enough to remember. He wobbled his way up to his feet and headed to the kitchen to finish making his perfect Thursday breakfast.

"I just can't believe it." Steve said when Clint was far enough away not to hear him. "Is this what SHIELD does? I can't just stand here and let this keep happening."

"Don't worry." Tony piped up as he chewed. "I'll just build a moat."

"Somehow I doubt that's going to help."

"After I fill it with sharks and crocodiles I think it'll help plenty."

Steve motioned to Natasha. "Should we move him? For a little while until this heat dies down?"

"Where? I doubt there's a place here more impenetrable than Stark's lab. Even without a moat." She replied. "Besides. After it happened I gave a call to someone I know on the inside of the intelligence circuit. Let me see what he can do first."

"You think he can help?"

"If he can't, then we better start arranging for a closed casket."

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