A/N ONE CHAPTER LEFT!

Bagel Thursday

PeechTao

Chapter 14

His office back on the bus was general referred to as "the hub". It may not be quite as official as everything else in the Sector 7 headquarters, but it held just enough authority to make him respected. After all, this was the man that triggered the chain reaction leading to the Avengers assembly, he had survived decades of active field work, and he had even survived being stabbed in the chest with a Chitauri scepter. Phil Coulson, his office, and his possessions were things to be respected and treasured. His friends were included.

Sitting behind his desk, Phil worked on the finishing touches of his document alteration software. Fritz had finished its programming after a personal request. All that was left to Phil was a simple point and click rearrangement.

The memory of Clint Barton sitting in that bagel shop, completely deaf, hurt him in ways very few things could. Coulson left the Avengers detail hoping his actions pulled a team together. Finding out later that it also gave a home to Agents Barton and Romanov was more than he could have ever wanted. They were his elite, his friends, and in some ways his kids.

Coulson always held a special concern over Clint. He remembered being there at the beginning, seeing Clint leaving that courthouse with nothing but the clothes on his back and ten dollars in his pocket. He didn't even have a bow anymore; the cops had confiscated it and refused to return it. He was such a kid then. A cheeky, brash, hurt kid with nothing left in the world but himself. When Coulson met him he didn't just see the potential hiding behind the awkward kid. He saw the pain left by years of not knowing who he was supposed to be.

After the events at the SHIELD base, learning that his top agent had been changed so profoundly by Loki was one of the worst experiences in his life. The feeling of failure was almost incurable. But Clint found his way. He integrated himself so profoundly in the band of Avengers.

There was little Coulson could do in person for his agent (Clint would always be considered his agent) but there was plenty he could do to safeguard Clint's position in the SHIELD network. Using his new background software, Coulson spent the better part of the next few days rearranging a few documents and health progress sheets while systematically losing others. He had access to the mainframe as a Level 7 operative and therefore could do virtually everything he wanted.

A light knock came to his office door, interrupting his work. Coulson dropped his files to the bottom of his screen and asked the person to come in. He was only a little surprised to see it was Agent Ward.

They hadn't spoken much personally since Coulson tracked the man down to the little side alley in New York. It was the closest Coulson had come to the Stark Tower since just before his near death experience and the weight of that was difficult to bare. His purpose, though, kept him singularly on target.

Fritz's directions were flawless, per usual. Coulson came up on Ward just as he slammed Clint to the ground and brought the knife down. Fearing the worst, Coulson fired first, on target, with zero reservation. Warning shots weren't necessarily his style anyway.

Ward acted as expected when a man is shot in the gluteus Maximus. His upper half shot up, out of any possible danger range to Clint who made it easier for Coulson to pick the man up and throw him to the side.

"WHAT THE HELL!" Ward roared at him, holding a hand to the sharp pain in his behind.

But Coulson didn't let him say more than that before he dragged the man to his feet and shoved his stumbling, shocked form in the direction of his car. "If you don't get in my car in two seconds I'll shoot you again. Do you want that?"

"But—"

Coulson physically dragged the agent until they reached the end of the alley. His car was there waiting and with little reservation he picked Ward up by the shoulders and dropped him into the back seats. "Stay!" he ordered.

"But!"

Coulson drew his gun and stuck it right in Ward's face, tempting him to complete his thought. Ward remained silent. This time, Coulson knew Ward wasn't going to keep his mouth shut. He was here with a bone to pick and Phil at least owed him something of an explanation.

The opened door brought in the sounds of the plane engines turning. They were on their way out of New York now and back to an incident in Southern California. Ward was grounded, doctor's orders, for the next few weeks. Given he'd just taken a gunshot to his left buttock, the leave was expected.

"Sir."

"Agent Ward." Coulson motioned to a chair with a smile. "Oh, wait, that's right."

"Very funny." Ward replied woundedly. "Look, can I just ask what the Hell you think you're doing?"

"No you may not." Coulson replied.

"Seriously? You shot me full of sodium pentothal that one day, and then you shoot me to prevent me from doing my job? What do you have against me and SHIELD protocol?!"

"Actually you're wrong."

Ward gave him a strained look.

"It wasn't sodium pentothal. It was a high potency derivative. I thought I explained that."

Ward yanked a chair out and flopped down into it. Then he realized his mistake and lifted himself swiftly back up only to slowly lower himself down again. He was mad, injured, and frankly frustrated that he finally had the opportunity he and a lot of other agents had been looking forward to for so long: killing Agent Barton "Look, protocol says you get maimed, you get scrubbed. What are we doing here? Protecting all the agents that don't cut it?"

Coulson leaned back in his chair. He expected this talk. Ward would keep quiet to SHIELD, he knew well enough that if he didn't Coulson had no problem opening an emergency hatch and letting the agent find his own landing less a plane or parachute. But Coulson figured he should explain himself at least a little. If nothing else it may prevent Ward from trying this stupid sort of thing again in the future.

"Do you remember Blackstone?" Coulson asked.

Ward shrugged. "Should I?"

"No. Do you know why?"

"Are you asking me why I don't know something about something I don't know?"

"You don't know about Blackstone because Agent Barton got to it before any other agent did. Blackstone was an underground movement within SHIELD's infrastructure. It took root four weeks prior to the Helicarrier attack and was demolished three days before Barton was taken by Loki. From the Tesseract base Agent Barton found nearly two hundred double agents working under the SHIELD banner secretly smuggling Phase 2 technology out of the underground base. He exposed them to Director Fury, and under orders took those agents out."

Ward's face screwed in his process of trying to understand what was happening. "What? Are you trying to tell me SHIELD was infected before Loki even showed up?"

"Level Seven security documents show that not only was Dr. Selvig under Loki's influence before the attack, but Dr. Bruce Banner as well. There are others but I won't go in to the details since you can just look that up yourself. Agent Barton, the agent you decidedly hate not only exposed this issue to Director Fury, but he was also the one who saw Loki's admittance through the portal before anyone else did. Did you know that?"

Ward shifted uncomfortably in his chair. He didn't want to admit that he had no idea what Coulson was talking about.

"I didn't think so." Coulson said. He got out of his chair and pulled a manila folder out of his desk drawer. He walked around the oak table top and handed the file to Ward. "When Clint attacked the Helicarrier, he did kill SHIELD personnel. You call them friends. I call them double agents."

Ward flipped through the file pages, hardly believing the words he was reading. Blackstone. He hadn't heard of it. Hardly anyone had. He saw the list of names, the files of the deceased SHIELD helicarrier workers and the lines drawn to the list of known Blackstone agents. They matched. He moved on, reading up on Barton's involvement. The Hawk was sent in to monitor Selvig, to watch the staff and the Phase 2 crew. After his arrival people began disappearing off the base. A list of names of those MIA, cleverly listed under base casualties in the explosion. They matched the Blackstone lists. Ward even recognized the hand writing of the initial hit list of those double agents hiding in SHIELD. It was written on the back of a cream-cheese stained piece of wax paper. The writing belonged to Clint Barton.

"Melinda May worked in logistics. She wrote those files you're holding. The men Clint killed on the Helicarrier were the last of Blackstone. He doesn't know that because he can't remember it and SHIELD thought it better not to remind anyone of the incident. Not many people were shown what you have now. Barton has enemies in the corporation. Men and women who feel he got a pass that he didn't deserve. Agents, like you, who think he's a screw up that, should have been scrubbed out a long time ago. But Barton is my agent. He never killed anyone he didn't know was dirty to begin with. And Ward, if you wanted to kill Director Fury, wouldn't you just shoot him in the face? The man wears more armor than a battle tank."

"Oh my God." Ward said, turning the pages.

"That agent you hate. That one you tried to kill, SHIELD owes him more than the world will ever know. That's why he was granted the Avengers Initiative spot over you. Stark didn't pay his way in. He earned it. Keeping his cool, even under possession by an otherworldly entity."

Ward looked up at Coulson. He didn't know what to say.

"To top that, if you still need proof of his capability, Barton was sent on a mission while deaf. He was partnered with a Level 5 who never saw a day of field work in her life and sent on the Rumsy case. You should know that because you were the one who picked up the Ukraine and Congo siphoner Gregory Clay. Well Clint was the man who took down his replacement and got the Level 5 out of the situation after the senator attempted to rape her."

Coulson handed over another file with the Rumsy case details. "Read up on that too if you want. Or I could just explain to you how Agent Barton, after deafening himself in a last ditch effort to safe Tony Stark and Captain America, not only eliminated all insurgents single handedly but also managed to call in a pickup, order an airstrike, and drag his unconscious team by hand out of the kill zone in under an hour."

Another file hit Ward's lap. This time, Ward didn't open it. He didn't have to. He knew without reading the mission briefs that Coulson wasn't lying to him. He may have felt right about his decision to take down Barton to begin with, but now he felt like a brick was swinging around his neck.

Coulson leaned back on his desk, watching the man across from him. He saw the little traces of understanding leak through that tough exterior and figured he'd at last broken through to Ward. Coulson motioned for the door. His voice was softer now. "Go on, get out. I have some work to finish. Take the files. Ask Melinda about it if you want. Her work in Logistics had her typing almost all of those pages except the recent ones. And, Ward, the next time you decide to hot dog after one of my agents, be prepared not to make it to the hospital. I have no problem scrubbing you out and grabbing ice-cream afterwards. Understood?"

Feeling like a man who just watched his cat get run over, Ward got out of his chair. He handed the stack of files back. He'd seen everything he needed. He turned heel and headed for the door, but before he made it out, Coulson called him back for a moment.

"Ward?"

He stopped, turning his head slightly to listen.

"You are one of my agents too. There is nothing that I would do for Barton that I would not do for you."

Ward straightened. His jaw was tight. He didn't like being wrong but somehow this was different. He understood where Coulson was coming from. What he was trying to say. In the end, he appreciated it. "Yes, sir. On all accounts."

The door shut behind him and Coulson returned the Blackstone, Rumsy, and Egypt files back into his drawer. He didn't like dredging up the past like that but if it kept Ward out of trouble it was worth it.

Now, back to the current Clint problem. Coulson knew that either Bruce Banner or Tony Stark were simultaneously working on their own solution to keeping SHIELD in the dark. Calling Natasha, while an option in some respects, may just get him in more hot water than he needed so he chose an alternate route. Given that he had Skye's clever online cloaking IP address, messaging Barton personally was as easy as attaching a document to an e-mail.

He copied some of the files over, just enough to show the new pattern in Clint's history without exposing all the work he'd gone through. It was a beautiful show of hard work and dedication and when at last Coulson went to press send he stopped. With a grin he reopened his files and rearranged some of the information, using his cell phone to fix a little private message.

While Clint may have been the most ambitious and loyal of his friends, there was on intimate thing Coulson knew about him that others rarely took advantage of. He never finished school. Not even sixth grade. Therefore simple tasks like deciphering a number code were often more of a challenge for him then most agents. In his line of work it mattered little. He was a scout, a visionary, and an assassin. Code breaking was left to other on his team. If Clint ever did deciphered the message, the impact would be just as good as randomly running into him in another coffee shop.

Coulson sent the email, signing at the bottom with the little private message. P.C.22435-84877329

Happy Bagel Thursday! Please Review!

Oh and I love how I'm making everyone hate Ward. I thoroughly enjoy that power I have! Now, maybe that's been turned around a little for the brighter side of life:)