"…here's the file on the mission so you can read it beforehand." The copilot agent stood in front of where their seats were in the SHIELD helicopter and handed each of them a file folder. Bruce accepted his, and then Tony's as well, after Tony refused to take it saying that he 'didn't like to be handed things.'
The agent then grabbed two headsets from box and passed them to Tony and Bruce, setting Tony's down next to him and handing the other to Bruce. Bruce slid his on over his head, and when he looked up, the agent was still looking at him. When she realized that he had caught her gazed, she smiled.
"Make sure they're on securely!"
Slightly dubious of her attention, Bruce gave her a slight smile and a nod, readjusting his headset to show that it was indeed on securely. The agent nodded and turned to go to the front of the helicopter to sit in the copilot's seat as the engines started up. Bruce looked over at Tony, who appeared to have missed the exchange, having put on his headset and begun fiddling with his phone. Bruce shook his head and opened the file; she was probably just nervous about having the Hulk on board; heck, even he was nervous about having the Hulk on board. Though, he'd been getting better and better control over the Hulk, especially these past few months. They could almost… coexist?
Bruce refocused on the present and looked over at Tony, who had still not touched his file and was working on something that looked suspiciously like Iron Man blueprints on his phone.
"Are you going to read the file, Tony?"
Tony paused his work and considered the question for a moment.
"Nah." He resumed flipping through pages and designs on his phone. "Just tell me any important points that you come across as you're reading."
"Sure." He replied with only a slight hint of sarcasm, and opened up the file to begin reading. Even as he started, he realized that pretty much the entire file was an important point, but he tried read out the crucial ones to Tony as he came across them.
Halfway through a page on radiation signatures that SHIELD had recorded on the area they were heading, a sharp pain pierced right below his left ear where the pad of the headset rested. Bruce sucked in a breath of air and quickly took off the headset, his hand going to touch the affected area.
Tony looked over, an eyebrow raised. Everything alright?
Bruce nodded; there was no sign of an injury on his neck and inspection of the headset showed nothing out of the ordinary. It must have just been some sort of static electric glitch or shock. Bruce carefully put the headset back on, making sure it was significantly more loose this time.
Tony immediately returned to his screen after checking on Bruce. Bruce shook his head, trying to get rid of the residual shock. The helicopter suddenly seemed less comfortable, and he felt a small urge in the back of his mind to get out of here. He pushed the urge down and resumed reading the file. He really shouldn't have stayed up so late talking with Peter last night; the fatigue was making him stress too much.
…
They arrived at the SHIELD helicarrier base in after about twenty minutes, and upon landing, were guided to a small briefing room inside the base. There, Agent Hill stood in front of an electronic board what looked like a presentation on their mission. She seemed slightly more tense than usual; possibly because she had to talk to Tony Stark, who was not a favourite around SHIELD, or because she had to be in confined quarters with Bruce Banner, who had a history of Hulking out and destroying the SHIELD base.
"Dr. Banner, Mr. Stark." She greeted them and indicated that they sit down at the small table before her.
"Agent Hill." Tony and Bruce sat down dutifully, Tony apparently not having any witty remarks yet.
"Alright, we'll just cover the finer portions and procedures, branching off what was in the file."
She turned to the board, which then changed to a detailed picture of foreign weapons and security plans.
"Though extremely well shielded, broaching on impenetrable, we have detected an increase in military activity along the borders of Wakanda, as well as a suspicious emission of-"
"Hold on, hold on." Tony sat up, waving his hand for everything to stop. "Waka-what? Are you making up words now, Hill?"
Agent Hill sighed and clicked the screen back a few slides to display a map of a small country.
"Wakanda. A concealed and highly developed country located in East Africa; which you would know, Stark, if you had bothered to read the file we gave you."
"Oh, that! Bruce here was supposed to fill me in on the important points." He looked accusingly at Bruce.
Bruce met his gaze, his eyebrows raised. "I did, Tony, remember? The entire flight here I was reading? You were on your phone?"
Tony thought back to their ride to SHIELD that he had spent upgrading the paint job on the Iron Man suit so it would be nearly impossible to scratch. He vaguely remembered Bruce's voice coming through on the headset, though he hadn't really paid attention to it.
"Oh, yeah!"
Tony nodded and then motioned Hill to continue.
"As I was saying-" Hill looked pointedly at Tony, "it's difficult for SHIELD, or any organization at all, to have any sort of intelligence on Wakanda due to their impermeable defenses. However, through the minute intelligence that we do receive, we've been alerted to an increase of their patrols and security, suggesting that they may be under threat. Along with that, there was also a detection of an unknown radiation from their area, and though we can't be sure if its harmful or not, coupled with the increase of security we have reason to believe that it is. SHIELD has decided to send in a small team, you two, along with Captain America and some SHIELD field agents. The Captain and Stark should be able to offer help with any assistance needed by the people and address the situation of security. Captain America would also be there to act in matters of diplomacy."
"What? You don't think that I'm diplomatic enough?" Tony questioned.
Agent Hill answered the question with a pointed silence, raising an eyebrow in Tony's direction.
Tony raised his hands in defense, Bruce trying to hide a smile behind his hand.
"Okay, okay. You've got a point."
Agent Hill resumed the briefing.
"Dr. Banner, being the leading expert on radiation, will sent to identity and resolve whatever they're dealing with over there.
"SHIELD has almost zero relations with Wakanda; the same being said for any country in the world. They are historically unwelcoming to outsiders and tend to be very isolated towards the rest of the world."
Agent Hill then went on to explain the mission outlines. They were to go in and offer assistance. If Wakanda would accept their help, good. If they would allow a full SHIELD team to come in and help fully address the situation, better. Their main goal was to establish contact and make sure there were no immediate threats to the country.
Tony politely raised his hand while Agent Hill was mid sentence. She sighed.
"What, Stark?"
He sat forward in his chair.
"Look, I'm all about saving the day, Cap's all about helping people and being friendly, and Bruce is all about hanging out in shady foreign cities that no one has ever heard of-" he nodded to Bruce for agreement, who just wearily rubbed a hand over his face; which Tony then took as agreement.
"But what I'm having trouble seeing here, is what SHIELD has to gain. What, are you guys trying to make new friends or something?"
Agent Hill cleared her throat.
"The country of Wakanda sits on the Earth's largest and only deposit of vibranium. Vibranium, as I'm sure you know, Stark, is extremely rare and extremely potent. It has the ability to cut through any other known metal on Earth. If that were to fall into enemy hands, the results would be disastrous. We need to make sure that Wakanda is able to keep safe guarding the deposit, and if not, move it to defend it ourselves.
Tony smiled.
"Now that sounds more like the SHIELD we know and love." He leaned back into his chair. "Well, not love, but, you know - tolerate."
Agent Hill sighed, "Just, let me try to get through this briefing, Stark."
Tony inclined his head and was mostly cooperative for the next hour as Agent Hill gave them the details on their mission.
…
The briefing finally concluded and Tony stood up, putting his arms over his head and stretching.
"If these meetings didn't take so long, I might actually go to more of them." He righted himself and then straightened the tie he was wearing.
Agent Hill, gathering up her binder and papers, looked up contemptuously at him.
"If you would read your briefing packet beforehand, they wouldn't have to take so long."
Tony considered this for a moment.
"But why read the packet if I'm going to the briefing anyway?"
Agent Hill took a deep breath looking as though she were trying to calm herself.
"Just leave, Stark. Before I throw you out the nearest window."
Tony smiled. "Pleasure as always, Agent Hill."
He walked out the door, Bruce following soon behind and giving a sympathetic smile to Agent Hill.
…
Meanwhile, at Stark Tower
Clint sat down at the breakfast bar, eating a bowl of Cheerios. It was oddly quiet in the Tower this morning; the Captain was at some award ceremony, Bruce and Tony were at a SHIELD briefing, Thor was off-planet, Natasha still hadn't gotten back from their mission from yesterday, and Peter was still asleep. Truth be told, Clint had been surprised that the kid had woken up at all yesterday- with a wound that big and with that much blood loss, he'd figured he would be out for a couple of days, at least.
Clint held the bowl in his hand while eating and perched on the bar stool, enjoying the silence. It was a relative miracle to have quiet where Stark was concerned. He talked constantly to anyone who would, or wouldn't, listen. And when there was nothing alive for him to talk to, he began talking to JARVIS instead. Clint wondered why he and Natasha tended to hang out here so often; he knew full well that Stark got on her nerves as well- his constant chatter was the direct opposite of the tight-lipped efficiency of SHIELD that they were used to. But then again, maybe that was why they kept coming back to the Tower. It was nice to have inconsequential banter with Tony, or sit down and watch a movie with Steve to help update him on the 70 years he missed, or listen to Bruce try to explain what a microwave was to Thor.
Clint chuckled at that memory; Thor was still convinced that there was some sort of magic involved with the heating process, and always approached the appliance with caution.
As he took another bite of cereal, the elevator dinged and Natasha stepped out, looking pristine as always even though she had just gotten back from duty. Only a few people were close enough to her to notice the slight slowness in her walk and the tiredness in her eyes that no amount of combat or field work could produce. Clint was one of those people.
He gave her a close-lipped smile, his mouth still full of cereal, and swallowed before asking,
"Paperwork?"
She sighed, walking to the cabinets, grabbing a bowl and sitting down next to him.
"Paperwork."
Clint nodded understandingly. Beyond the hours spent together in the field, the near death experiences, and the countless times they had saved each other's lives, Clint and Natasha also bonded over one of their many common enemies: after-mission paperwork.
Natasha began pouring herself the cereal that he had left on the table and Clint glanced down at the newspaper the Captain had left that morning. He snorted as he read the headline, the picture below it showing a scene from yesterday's escapade. Natasha raised an eyebrow, looking over at when he found amusing, not aware of yesterday's events.
Before he could explain, Peter walked into the room, hair standing up in all different directions and chest still wrapped in bandages.
"Morning Hawkeye, Widow."
"Mornin'." Clint could barely keep from laughing at the headline while Peter, oblivious to his amusement, walked past the bar to open the refrigerator. After a few moments of fruitless searching, Peter shut the door.
"For a billionaire, he really doesn't have a very well stocked pantry."
Clint nodded in agreement, having come to that conclusion himself on multiple occasions.
Peter grabbed a half-empty bag of chips - not too close to their expiration date - off the counter and sat down across from Clint and Natasha.
He glanced down at the newspaper that was upside down to him, his eyes landing on the picture from yesterday. Clint was trying to suppress a grin.
"Is that us?"
Clint nodded, not trusting himself with words. Natasha, having looked over at the newspaper and read enough to get the gist of what had happened, also had a small smirk that she tried to hide as she ate her cereal.
"You mind?" Peter indicated the newspaper and Clint motioned for him to take it, watching Peter's face as he flipped the newspaper over so it was right side up for him.
Peter's eyes widened as they fell on the headline:
Avenger's save New York from Villains Doctor Octopus and Spider-Man
"Aw, come on! Are you serious?"
Clint burst out laughing at the stunned disbelief on Peter's face when he looked up.
"Damn, Peter. And here I thought that you were fighting the guy, I didn't know you had teamed up."
Peter scoffed at this, shaking his head as he looked back down at the paper.
"One of these days, I'm going to tell a robber exactly how to get to Jameson's safe, and then we'll see how smug he is."
Clint was still chuckling to himself as he drained the remaining milk from his bowl; he didn't know how the kid had made such an enemy of the media, but the length they went to to make him look like the bad guy was downright impressive - not to mention hilarious.
Once more, the elevator dinged and all three of them looked up as Tony and Bruce walked out and into the kitchen.
"Morning, team!" Tony said, approaching the bar.
"Stark, I'm surprised to see you awake and functioning this early in the morning." Natasha observed.
"Or, in the morning at all, for that matter." Clint added.
Tony looked at him patronizingly.
"We were at a briefing, as you well know, for a very important mission that Bruce and I are being sent on."
Clint raised an eyebrow.
"It can't be too important if they have you going, Stark."
Tony smirked at him triumphantly.
"Jealous that we got our own mission without you? Yeah, that's right; we're going on a mission, and you're staying home. How does it feel, Featherhead?"
Clint rolled his eyes, and then reached to answer his phone that had begun to vibrate in his pocket; while Tony started doing a small victory dance.
"Hawkeye."
Peter was smiling at Tony's antics, still not used to seeing the celebrity act like this.
"...yes, sir...of course, sir...Accompany them to Wakanda-" he looked pointedly at Stark, who froze mid-dance move.
"I'll tell her, sir... Yes, sir. Hawkeye out." He stuffed his phone into his pocket, glancing casually over at Tony, who was looking slightly less triumphant.
"Guess you'll have to tell me about it, Stark. 'Cause I wouldn't know." He said smugly, answering Tony's previous question.
Clint appreciated Tony's flustered silence as he put his empty bowl into the sink. He turned around, Tony's expression bordering on a pout.
"Bruce, Steve, you, Natasha, and I are all on the mission and we leave at 0600 tomorrow morning."
Tony scowled at this; however, his expression brightened as he had an idea.
"Well then, if Fury's sending you guys, I'm taking Web-head. We need someone to even out the fun and boring levels on the mission.
Peter brightened at this idea, getting ready to agree with it.
Bruce spoke up.
"I don't know if that's such a good idea. Peter is still healing from his injury, and really shouldn't do anything too strenuous for another week at least."
Tony scoffed. "Please," he threw his arm over Peter's shoulder. "We're hardly doing anything strenuous. Just some science, weapons, and diplomacy. Besides, Web-head could use the field work."
Peter nodded enthusiastically.
"Bruce, I feel great; like I could web swing across New York."
Bruce sighed, clearly torn between the fact that he thought Peter still needed time to heal, and the fact that it didn't matter at all what he thought, because Tony would do whatever he wanted anyway.
"Alright, fine." Bruce reluctantly agreed, and Peter and Tony enthusiastically high-fived.
"But definitely no web-swinging, that's the surest way to reopen the wound."
Peter dutifully nodded before excitedly asking questions about the mission.
Clint and Natasha shared a look, both of them amused at Stark's enthusiasm for a mission- thinking of it as something fun rather than a chore. Then he pulled out his phone again, readying to call Fury and tell him that they had an addition to the lineup.