Angel (A Clint Barton Love Story)

"I hope you won't let me down, Agent Kane. Level Eight is extremely prestigious. You're at the same security level as the Avengers now."

I smiled gently at Nick Fury, who was sat behind his desk, looking up at me like a man who wasn't quite sure whether he'd made a mistake or not.

"I won't let you down sir."

"You'd better not, Kane." He growled, standing up, and motioning me towards the door. "I think you'd better meet your new team members."

I was surprised. I had no idea I was being completely transferred. "Jones and Abbott and Mitchel?"

"Your old team members will be having a new recruit to fill your shoes." Fury smirked a little. "I have a feeling she'll have a hard time. You made quite an impression on those men."

We stopped at a door, down a corridor I'd never been to. Promotions in SHIELD were kind of like being reborn. Every time you dragged yourself up the ladder to a new level, you had to practically relearn the layout of the building, what with all the rooms you were given access to.

The door slid open, and Fury led me into the Avengers meeting room. Maria Hill turned to see me, and smiled gently. "Ah, you must be Agent Kane."

"Agent Hill." I smiled back at her, and she pointed to the long oval table, which the members of the Avengers were seated around.

"These are your new Team members. .I'm sure you've heard of Tony Stark." The infamous billionaire barely looked up from whatever he was doing on his phone.

"Doctor Bruce Banner." The doctor inclined his head.

"Agent Natasha Romanoff." The red-head smiled encouragingly at me from her seat beside Doctor Banner.

"Captain Steve Rogers." The attractive blonde man looked up from the file he was reading - presumably mine - and flashed me a perfect smile.

"And the Hawk, Clint Barton." Maria paused, coming to an empty seat beside Steve, and frowned. "Where's Barton?"

The various members of the Avengers shrugged, except Tony, who still had his head bent over his phone.

"I'm here, Hill." A voice came from the door behind us, and I turned to see Clint Barton saunter through the door. He brushed past Fury, who growled that the meeting had already started, and dropped into his seat beside Steve. "Don't get your panties in a twist."

Fury muttered something about manners, and then stepped up the the head of the table. Bruce nudged Tony, who gave an audible sigh and pocketed the phone, lazily swinging his head around to look at Fury, who cleared his throat, stopping when he realised I was still standing.

"You gonna take a seat, or wait for one to fly itself over there?" He snapped. Every head in the room turned to me, and I mumbled an apology, before finding a seat in between Natasha and Steve.

"Now, you're all gonna welcome Agent Kane to the team, and you're all gonna play nice with her until she's learnt the ropes of level eight. I'm lookin' at you, Stark."

"Of course, play nicely, and I'm guessing this is an order not to try and get in her pants?"

Fury pursed his lips. "I'm gonna ignore that comment. Agent Kane managed to get to this level through skills, so I want everyone to treat her with the same respect you treat me."

There was an awkward silence, while Clint and Tony exchanged side along grins.

"Okay, more respect than you treat - you know what, just play nice."

"Scout's Honour." Tony assured him.

"You were never a Scout." Steve muttered.

"You want to prove that, Grandpa?"

"Break it up." Natasha muttered softly, as Steve bristled and narrowed his eyes.

"Okay, our main priority for the next couple of weeks is training Agent Kane." He turned his one good eye on me. "Now you've seen combat at level seven, but that ain't nothing compared to level eight. You're gonna go through two weeks of serious training."

"We've got babysitting duty?" Tony groaned from the other end of the table. Fury smiled softly.

"Yes, Stark. And you can start with teaching her the ins and outs of the technology we use here."

"Great, you can be in my remedial class with Capsicle."

"Don't call me that." Steve snapped.

"Rogers." Fury raised his voice a little to draw their attention back to him. "I want you taking her through combat situations. I want her thinking like a soldier. She needs to be able to make quick decisions under pressure. Good?"

Steve nodded, and turned in his seat to flash me a quick smile, which I returned.

"Banner, make sure she's healthy, and then take her through some of that science crap. She needs to know how to help herself if a mission goes wrong. Medical kits and stuff like that."

"Sure thing."

"Romanoff, you turn this girl into a lean mean, killing machine. I want her to be just as good as you."

"I'll go easy on you to start." Natasha promised, grinning at me.

"And Barton?"

Clint looked up from the file he'd taken from Steve. "Hm?"

"By the time you're through with her, she's gonna be the sharpest shooter I've ever met. Deal?"

"Yeah sure, whatever."

"Right. Now to make sure nobody's cutting classes and switching around lessons, I've created a timetable for you all to follow." There were collective groans from around the table. "And you will follow it. Understood?"

Everyone mumbled 'yes', and Fury handed out timetables. I picked mine up and examined it, checking my watch. I didn't have anything for another ten minutes, and then I had Bruce. I glanced up from the time table and caught his gaze, giving him a quick smile, which, thankfully, he returned.

"Okay, that's basically all I wanted to say, so you can all go do whatever it is you do when I don't want you." Fury sat back down in his seat, calling Agent Hill over. Tony whipped out his phone again, to begin a new game, and Steve, Clint and Natasha all grouped together, walking out of the room.

"You need anything before we start, or shall we just head down to the lab now?" Bruce asked, leading you out of the room.

Notes