Note: Yeah, not warning for spoilers for 'Agents of SHIELD' finale anymore.

"Rule Britannia"

Phil tried not to fidget as Agent Weaver arched an eyebrow.

"The last time we advised you and you followed our advice, Gonzales ended up dead," she reminded him.

"On the other hand, it might've been me," he said.

"On the other hand, you might have handled the situation differently and lived."

"Then I wouldn't have this little baby," he said, waving the fingers on his robotic prosthetic hand. "It's shiny. I'm thinking of carrying a Sharpie around with me so I can make notes on it, and just wipe them off later. Or one of those magnetic notebooks and a magnetic pen, which I can stick on until I need to use them."

"Don't get carried away, Coulson," she said, twisted in her roller chair. "It was only a casual suggestion, to bring the last member of the World Security Council on board. Do you really think it's a good idea?"

"You suggested it," he said.

"Yes. Casually. I'm your only advisor left, unless you genuinely think a bouquet of chocolate roses will draw Nicholas Fury back to SHIELD."

"All the men on the councils seem to die first," Phil said. In hindsight, it sounded a bit flippant. The look Weaver gave him hinted that she shared that feeling. "It must be Fate, the two of you being the only ones left. I'm sure you and Councilwoman Hawley will get along well."

"And you wouldn't prefer to have a man on the council, so there's a male perspective?"

He hummed, and twirled around in his seat simply because he could. The perks of being the director of SHIELD. "Well, I'm male, so I can provide that perspective myself. And put it this way: the WSC, and then the council I created here, were both male-heavy. In my case, it was because I had limited resources. In the WSC's case, it was undoubtedly because we live in a patriarchal society. SHIELD's never been run by a woman before; the closest we got was Peggy Carter. Now, I don't mean to sound sexist in any way—"

"Which means you're about to be," she said.

"No," he said. "I'm saying look at what SHIELD became, and look at the way it's been going since I started to rebuild it without the advice of others. What if a woman's touch is what's been missing? Nick Fury left SHIELD in my hands, and I know I want to make it an organisation Captain America could be proud of. I also know that more people will follow a man in authority than they would a woman in authority. I'm not one of those people, however, which is why I want both you and Councilwoman Hawley as my advisors. We can add other people in time, and I'd like Fury to be a consultant when possible. I'm still in contact with Maria Hill, and I get May's advice. I'll still get the last say, as director, but the more perspectives there are examining a situation, the easier it could be to make a decision which keeps everyone safe. If we'd been more careful, maybe Simmons wouldn't have…" He paused, and Weaver's face reflected his own internal anguish. "I'll invite the councilwoman to the base. Will you be there to meet her?"

"Of course," Weaver said quietly. "My other suggestion was that you contact the Avengers."

He winced. "Fury told me that he'd hinted to Stark—"

"You're the one who's known the truth all along," she said.

"Not the whole truth."

"No, but you're the one who's been keeping it secret from them. If you send them a message, the ball will be in their court. If they found out themselves that you were alive, don't you think they'd assume that you didn't want to see them?"

"That's because I… I…"

She cleared her throat. "You don't want to see them? I find that hard to believe. They were your project… one of your projects. You were supposed to be their handler."

"That was just a rumour," Phil said, shrugging.

"Really?"

"Yes. I'd handed in my resignation to Fury after the results from Project TAHITI, and I was serving out my two weeks' notice when I…" He rubbed the scar on his chest. "It was never going to be me. I don't actually matter anything to the Avengers, even though Lady Sif said that Thor considered me a friend. I barely knew him, and they all have trust issues…" He narrowed his eyes. "What if Stark didn't get the hint? He'd have no reason to think it was me Fury was referring to. What if they thought it was a hoax and attacked the base—"

"That hardly seems likely," she remarked. "Am I to assume that you refuse to tell the Avengers that you're alive?"

"…You mean it, don't you?"

"One hundred percent."

He heaved a sigh. "Okay. I'll get Skye to find Pepper Potts' new number… or…" His gaze wandered. "Actually, I know exactly who to tell first."

Darcy was bopping along to her iPod as she sat across the table from Jane, occasionally kicking her boss's leg under the table to remind her to eat. It didn't help when Thor was there, and the two of them were making eyes at each other. Darcy hummed along with the music between sips of soda, and played with the remainders of her spaghetti and meatballs. She twined a few cold strands around her fork, then decided against it.

Her music stopped suddenly, and she frowned. She'd just charged this last night! How could the battery possibly be drained by now…?

"What?" she said. Jane started to explain something, and Darcy waved it off. "No, someone's hacked into my iPod. Oh, Stark is a dead man if this is his idea of a joke. No one messes with my baby, not even SH… uh, jack-booted thugs." They never knew whether a SHIELD witch-hunter was nearby or not. At least she had everyone's full attention, which was a miracle. "There's a message… huh?" She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose and squinted, trying to force the words to make sense. "'The Son of Coul is alive'. What does that even mean…? Thor?"

Thor had dropped his cutlery, and was staring at her. "Son of Coul?"

"Yeah, that's what it says. See?" She showed him the screen, and he leaned closer to see it. The air crackled around them, and thunderclouds appeared. Darcy quickly retracted her arm, and glanced nervously at the sky. "Could you call off the bad weather, buddy?"

"Son of Coul," Selvig repeated. "As in… Agent Coulson?"

"Huh." Made sense. "I guess so. I thought he died?"

"Apparently we were lied to," Thor said, his voice deepening. Thunder rumbled in the distance, an echo of his anger. "We must inform Stark so that he can trace this message to its original source."

"Why would someone tell me?" Darcy said. "Hey, can we focus on that before we get soaked through?" Jane poked Thor. "I don't think that worked."

"No," Jane said. "Here's Thor's phone. Can you call Mr. Stark?"

"Sure thing, boss lady," Darcy said, accepting the fancy-shmancy new tech. "Wow. I've gotta get me one of these."

"Darcy?"

"I'm going, I'm going." She stuffed her iPod into her pocket and retreated to the café entrance. She sifted through Thor's contact list until she found 'Man of Iron'. She hit the call button and lifted the phone to her ear, flinching at the crack of lightning which made every else jump.

"Hello, who is this?"

That definitely didn't sound like Tony Stark. But the voice in the background, shouting about getting their phone back, sounded more like the billionaire.

"Please tell me you didn't steal this phone?" she said. There was a short gasp, and then whichever European-sounding guy had answered called out to someone else.

"Wanda, it worked! I found my soulmate!"

"Soulmate?" She blinked rapidly, and glanced at the table. Jane was trying to distract Thor, and the storm clouds were receding, so it was probably working. "Uh, I'm Darcy Lewis? I wanted to talk to Tony Stark?"

"Okay, wait a moment," her soulmate said, and she heard one indignant 'Hey!' from him before a more familiar voice spoke.

"That you, Thor?"

"You've got a ring-tone just for him?" Darcy said. "That's so cute!"

"This wouldn't happen to be Darcy Lewis, would it?"

"Yep," she said. "Before I beg for my soulmate's actual phone number, Thor told me to tell you that I got this message on my iPod which says 'The Son of Coul is alive'. He thinks it's means Agent iPod Thief, and that you should trace the message…"

"Uh-huh." She heard something like tapping in the background. "Going in now. Okay, I found the message. I'll trace it. Heigh-ho, Silver, talk to your soulmate."

After a moment, the European accent was back, and Darcy melted against the wall.

Whoever was flying the `jet was damn good at floating landings. The ramp opened, and out stepped the elegant councilwoman. He walked up to her, and they shook hands.

"It's an honour to have you aboard, Madam Councilwoman," he said. "Is that how I address you? We never got the chance to—"

"Councilwoman Hawley is fine," she said. "I've heard much about you, Coulson."

"Good or bad?" he asked.

"That would be telling."

He grinned. "I like you already. Thank you so much for agreeing to talk to me about a new council—"

"As long as it was worth making the trip to a physical base," she said. "Last time that happened my three colleagues were killed, and it was through Agent Romanov's intervention that I'm still alive. You brought her in, didn't you?"

"It was Barton," Phil said. "I just seconded his decision."

"Mmm-hmm?"

Now off-balance, Phil led Councilwoman Hawley to the small group he'd brought onto the deck with him.

"This is Melinda May, my second in command," he said. They shook hands, and Phil wondered whether it was just his imagination playing tricks on him, or whether the two women really were sizing each other up. "Barbara Morse, who's here…"

"Temporarily," Bobbi said, shaking the councilwoman's hand. "I'm currently covering for a missing agent."

"And this is Agent Weaver from the science academy, currently my only senior advisor."

"Senior advisor?" Weaver said. "You make me sound old."

"Not at all."

Weaver rolled her eyes, and held out her hand to the councilwoman. "A pleasure to meet you at last. I only regret the circumstances."

Phil watched Councilwoman Hawley as she studied Weaver, then slowly shook her hand.

"I see this was worth my while," she murmured. Weaver's lips parted.

"Oh," she said. "Right. This was perhaps one of my better ideas." She half-smiled. "It is lovely to meet you."

It wasn't hard to connect the dots. Phil weighed up his options, and decided that it would be better to get Weaver and Hawley into privacy than shoo off Bobbi and May, especially since Bobbi was still on crutches. Weaver swiftly dismissed him, and he hoped she was leading the councilwoman somewhere safe.

"Well," Bobbi said after they'd left. "You think she's gonna be staying?"

"Either that or Agent Weaver will leave us," Phil said. "I hope Councilwoman Hawley still has Skype."

"Uh, DC?" Skye came running up to him. "One, why did I catch Weaver giggling like a schoolgirl with a woman who looks like Councilwoman Hawley?"

"Soulmates," May said.

"Oh."

"What was the second thing, Skye?" Phil asked.

"Tony Stark wants to talk to you. He's on the phone, waiting."

"Tony Stark is waiting for me? Wonders never cease."

"Are you gonna keep him hanging on?"

"Tempting," Phil said. "I'm not at his beck and call. I'll return to my office in my own good time."

"What if Captain America is waiting with him?" Bobbi said.

Damn.

"I'll be in my office if anyone needs me," he muttered.

"One last thing," Skye said. "Darcy Lewis passes on her gratitude. She found her soulmate thanks to that message. It's one of the Avengers, the one named Quicksilver?"

"I'm suddenly extremely glad I'm not their handler."

"Anne?"

Weaver looked up at her soulmate, who was resting against the pillows, her light hair much less tidy than when they'd left the deck.

"Yes?" she said.

"What do we do now?"

"I don't know," she replied. "I doubt we'll always see eye to eye. The World Security Council wanted to blow up New York—"

"The Avengers were an untried loose canon."

"And you didn't trust SHIELD to trust them." Hawley stayed silent. "I think we have a great deal to talk about. Perhaps we should start with a drink."

"You mean continue with a drink," she corrected, looking Weaver from top to toe, and then back to meet her eyes. "I heard what happened when those… inhuman people infiltrated the base. The last time my colleagues went to a SHIELD base they died. I hate the thought of you being here when it's so dangerous."

"I'm not leaving until we find Simmons," Weaver said firmly. "She was one of my best students, and I won't abandon her."

"…Then we will have to trust the Avengers to find her soon."

No idea what Councilwoman Hawley's first name is supposed to be, but I'm pretty sure Weaver's first name is Anne. Writing this on the old laptop, which isn't connected to the internet, so I can't double-check.

Anyway. I don't know what made me think of this pairing. As for Darcy/Pietro, that was requested by phoenix_173 and rogueshadow. I was also chastised for not writing enough fem slash, so until I finish the long chapter I'm working on at the moment, this will have to do.

Please review, folks!