Working relationships

[agent_coulson]

Phil Coulson was used to being woken up from a dead sleep. In fact, he'd basically stopped having "dead sleeps" anymore, after so many years of being on call and needing to be instantly alert at a moment's notice. He dozed more than he actually slept now.

So it wasn't a shock to hear his mobile ringing at 3am, but that didn't mean it was pleasant. His hand shot out automatically, pushing the button to answer the call even before he was fully awake. By the time it reached his ear, he'd opened his eyes and the beginning of a silent hope was already forming in his head: that maybe this would be something needing his authorization, or a question from a junior agent, or--hell, even a question from Fury himself, anything to let him go back to sleep after the call ended.

Of course that was a pipe dream. He listened carefully as the threat was described to him: two speedsters, shooting some kind of unidentified beam, in Newark. Destruction to property. Civilian lives at risk. General chaos.

It made sense, really. Of all the places he least desired to be, New Jersey at 3 in the morning on a Saturday was pretty close to the top of the list.

He sighed, and sat up, swinging off the bed to head for the closet. "I'll be there in twenty minutes. Call whoever's up on the roster, at least a Level 2. I don't want to be there all morning." With that, he snapped the phone shut, grabbed a suit off the rack, and made a beeline for the kitchen--if he was going to deal with this, he wasn't going to do it without coffee.

Comments

[ladyofmarvel]

"Consider the other one engaged," she muttered, pushing off from the floor she was on and punching through the ceiling, coming up behind and to the left of the one who'd shot her. The 'o' of surprise on his face almost made her laugh, but she decided to wait until later to find amusement in it. He brought the rifle around from his right to aim at her, but she was already moving in a blur to stay on his left, coming in behind him and jerking his arm up. The rile let off another beam, one that went into the ceiling instead of her.

Removing the gun and using it to deliver a blow to his temple was easy enough after that, her hand circling his upper arm keeping him from slumping to the floor. "Target's down, Coulson. Need a little distraction?"

[agent_coulson]

The hot dog stand was in pieces now, all the fun gone, and the speedster started shooting his rifle in random directions now. He was calling something--Phil realized it was a name, just as a burst hit a car near him and he had to duck his head to keep from being hit with a sideview mirror.

"That would be helpful. I think he's calling for his brother--no idea if it's the one we have, or the one you just took care of--but if he realizes he's alone, he might start taking out hostages."

[ladyofmarvel]

"Well, maybe his brother should come give him a little visit, hmm?"

Slinging the strap of the rifle over her shoulder, she tucked the unconscious brother under her arm, kicking out the boards on the window before flying out and heading over to Coulson's position.

Hearing the blasts hitting, she stayed in the air, coming into view of the man with the gun, shooting random targets and seeming to be losing the spark of fun he may have started out with. "Uh oh," she called, loudly, "look at what I found here. All passed out and helpless."

Drawing attention to herself, she floated closer, swinging the legs of the unconscious brother as she went.

[agent_coulson]

When he heard the speedster's outraged yelp and the sudden burst of shots being fired (presumably in Carol's direction), Phil stepped around the minivan, keeping low as he hurried forward, then circling around so he was behind the man. Carol seemed to be keeping her own, he noted. With this distraction, he could probably avoid a lethal take-down. He holstered his gun quickly and pulled out his Taser, stopping just on the other side of the hostage vehicle before taking his shot.

The speedster dropped abruptly when the electrode darts hit his back, convulsing and hissing. A puddle appeared around him, trickling across the pavement. Phil breathed a little sigh of relief before reporting, "Both threats neutralized. I repeat, it is all clear. Send in a medical team and keep them both tranqed during transport."

[ladyofmarvel]

Dodging the shots wasn't exactly a picnic, but she had a feeling his aim might have been a little off due to her package. When the shots stopped and she heard Coulson's report, she grinned as she stopped darting around. Floating down to land beside him, she eyed the downed target, letting his brother slump to lay over him, hair half-lying in the puddle. "Aww, like two sleeping babies."

Turning towards Phil, she gave him a nod. "Good shot. Clean take down."

[agent_coulson]

"You too. Good work." Phil allowed himself a little smile before the other agents came into view, then straightened up and nodded briskly at her. "Thank you, Agent Danvers. I'll need your after-action report ASAP."

The agents passed them by and descended on the two unconscious speedsters. Phil watched them shoot enough tranquilizers to give a horse a good nap into the asses of both men, then glanced over at Carol again. "Did you fly here? Need a ride back?"

[ladyofmarvel]

"I did, yes. I figured you wouldn't appreciate 'I got stuck in traffic' as a viable excuse from me." A small smile, then she nodded at the rest of the question. "If you're sure you don't mind, I wouldn't say no."

...lol somehow this turned kind of tl;dr sorry

[agent_coulson]

"Not at all." Phil gestured. "I'm parked this way." He started picking his way back through the wreckage of ketchup, mustard, and charred bits of metal. Agent Woo met them a block later, and Phil paused, tilting his head back toward the scene. "There's not much clean-up, just some blasted cars and a lot of... condiments."

Woo nodded. "Got it. Heard you got a non-lethal on both of them?"

"Thanks to Danvers."

"Good work, Agent Danvers." Woo smiled at her. "The guys in Bio R&D were just saying the other day that they needed more speedster physiology data. Guess they'll get it now."

Phil hid a small wince. He did not envy those two--once the science wing of the R&D department got their hooks into someone, there was no end to the tests. They were all humane, for the most part, but life as a guinea pig was not Phil's idea of a vacation. "We're going to head back to HQ. Let me know if anything comes up here."

"Will do, sir." Woo headed off to the scene and they arrived at Phil's car a moment later.

He got in on the driver's side, calling, "It's open!" to her as he settled in. He hadn't bothered to lock it--if someone was ballsy enough to be wandering around while all that was going down a couple blocks away, maybe they deserved to get in. There wasn't anything to take, anyway: this was a SHIELD vehicle, bare of anything except a sophisticated GPS system hidden in the dash and an arsenal under the backseat. Neither were accessible without a voiceprint.

Pff, there's no such thing

[ladyofmarvel]

She gave Woo a return smile, nodding at the small praise. A small look was spared for the two, knowing exactly where they were heading and what they were in store for. It was one of the few reasons she avoided the R&D department. She was one step over the line away from winding up there herself, and knowing that they'd love the chance for an excuse to pick and prod at her always creeped her out a little.

Making her way over to the car, she opened the door and slid into the seat, closing the door gently and looking over at him as she propped her head up on her hand, elbow resting by the window. "All in all, I'd say that was a pretty decent tag. Limited civilian casualties, minimum damage, no lethal force required. And look, you didn't even get any mustard on your shoes."

DON'T CHALLENGE ME

[agent_coulson]

Phil glanced down at his shoes speculatively, then laughed. "You're right. It's a good morning already." He glanced out the window, where the sun was just starting to come up. "And it's barely started."

He turned the key in the ignition, speaking his name and waiting for it to roar to life. The GPS console flipped outward to him, but he hesitated, his finger hovering over the entry on the list of destinations that said "SHIELD HQ". "You coming back to HQ, or should I take you home? I can wait for that report if you want to get some sleep. You deserve it."

Torro Torro!

[ladyofmarvel]

Her eyes turned towards the creeping sunlight, watching it beginning to wash over the city, illuminating it for another day of hustle and bustle. "Seems kind of pointless, particularly since a certain Agent won't be taking the same offer themselves."

That was said with a smirk as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Unless someone decides that they're only human and can sleep for another two or three hours..."

*snorts, stomps hooves* JUST WAIT THIS IS GOING TO HAPPEN WHEN YOU LEAST EXPECT IT NOW

[agent_coulson]

"If I sleep now, I'm just going to feel more tired." Phil shrugged regretfully at her and shifted the car into drive, pulling out into the main thoroughfare. "There's a limit I can reach, under a number of hours... that just registers as a nap, and refreshes me. Go over that and my body gets demanding." He sighed. "And I have enough demanding bodies at work."

He signaled and merged onto the US-9, glancing over his shoulder briefly, his eye catching hers on the way back. "Yourself excluded, of course."

*flicks red cloak* Bring it, baby.

[ladyofmarvel]

She chuckled at that, watching him slide the car easily into the sparse early morning traffic. "Very diplomatic save there, Phil. And I'll be the first to admit that I can be very demanding, given the right circumstances."

Biting back a grin, she turned to look out the window, wondering what else the day was going to throw at her with such an invigorating start so far. "I might use my lunch hour for a nap, but only if the day's slow."

[agent_coulson]

Phil smiled and was quiet for a moment, just watching the road as they drove. Something she'd said made him think. After a minute of silence, he ventured: "Carol... about the other night. At the bar." He hesitated, trying to carefully formulate what he wanted to say. Someone zipped into his lane ahead of him and then slowed down, making him break forcefully and mutter a curse--more at himself for losing focus than at the other driver.

[ladyofmarvel]

She was wondering when he'd bring that up, or if, even. She'd left the ball in his court, stating her interest, preference and letting him decide when and if he wanted to visit that option. Anything else would not only be unprofessional, but unwanted and far too pushy. "Mm? Are we referring to your frisbee activities, or something else?

god I experienced so much vicarious uncomfortableness writing this tag XD

[agent_coulson]

He grinned involuntarily. "Oh God, I forgot I told you about that." Then his expression sobered. "No, I'm referring to something else." He looked over at her for a moment, then turned back to the road. "I want you to know that... I understand we were both drinking. Sometimes people say things when they're drinking... that they wouldn't otherwise. Or make certain offers."

He cleared his throat. "My point is: I--you don't seem uncomfortable around me, but I just wanted you to know that I wouldn't hold you to anything you said in a bar, after a few beers."

*chortles* YES!!!

[ladyofmarvel]

Shifting in her seat so that she was facing him more solidly, she gave him a small, soft smile. "Phil, I wasn't drunk. I was barely buzzed. And if it would clear things up with your conscious, let me make things clear. I'm perfectly sober and it's in the light of day, and I'm making you the same offer. Casual, reciprocal sex, with no emotional strings attached and no requirements of changing our current friendship, other than adding an extra... layer to it."

[agent_coulson]

Phil's knuckles turned a pinkish shade of white as he gripped the steering wheel a bit tighter. His eyes flicked over to her--the early morning sunlight on her hair, the gentle curl of her lips. "Ah. Well, I guess in that case, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't... interested."

He sighed. "This is an incredibly unprofessional conversation to be having in a SHIELD vehicle." He pulled onto the off-ramp, leaving the US-9 behind as they entered New York.

[ladyofmarvel]

"Would you prefer to have it in a SHIELD office? With SHIELD employees everywhere? Or perhaps in the residence if a SHIELD Agent. Kind of a tough thing to get away from, Phil. Part of working where we work is learning how to compartmentalize our lives and work. This moment here? This is a transitional one. It's allowable because it's ours. Those brief little snippets we can call our own, we're allowed to be ourselves."

Tucking her hair behind her ear again, she let her eyes linger over him. "I'm glad you are interested, though."

[agent_coulson]

He turned to catch her looking him over, and a bit of color rose in his cheeks. "An Avenger giving me the compartmentalizing speech. That's different." His lips twisted up into a small, self-deprecating smile. "I'm usually using it in the opposite argument, though. In order to--as Stark puts it--suck the joy out of life."

He turned onto a surface street, heading away from SHIELD HQ. "By the way, if you ever make a similar offer to someone and they aren't interested, you should probably bring them in to SHIELD. They won't be human."

[ladyofmarvel]

She snorted at that. "Stark's idea of joy is almost parallel to Loki's, minus human casualties. Mostly."

The turn away from their destination was noted, and had her lifting her brow and tipping her head slightly to the side, curiously. "I believe that's the nicest compliment I've ever gotten, Phil. Mind if I ask about the detour?"

Not that she was concerned, but she was curious. Phil Coulson wasn't particularly known for deviating from regulation and procedures.

[agent_coulson]

His eyebrows rose in mild surprise. "I did say this was an unprofessional conversation to have in a SHIELD vehicle." He gestured ahead of them. "And I need coffee. So, we have two options. One--that Starbucks, where you could let me buy you a latte. Or two--my apartment, a few more blocks north. I have Italian roast, but no milk."

[ladyofmarvel]

Her smile widened. "I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't love a chance to get to see the inner sanctum of Phillip Coulson. It would even be worth foregoing a little milk in my coffee." She was pleased, amused at his obvious and logical adaptation for having a personal conversation; more pleased that this meant the conversation would be continuing.

[agent_coulson]

"It's not very exciting." He shrugged and smiled. "But it has a bed and caffeine, nothing else is really necessary." He paused, his mind quickly replaying what he'd just said. "To clarify, I meant... necessary for me. For life. The life of a SHIELD agent." He shut his mouth again, resolutely disallowing himself from putting his foot in it again. He had a feeling this was going to keep happening with Carol.

A minute later they pulled into a darkened parking garage beneath his building, and he swerved into the first open spot. There were four other cars in this garage registered to him--three of them SHIELD vehicles, and one of them a personal car, which saw hardly any use. He kept thinking about just selling it... but it seemed like one of those psychological steps that would mean his life--down to his ability to transport himself--really did belong to SHIELD: lock, stock, and barrel.

He blinked and brought himself back to the present moment, hopping out of the car and walking around to open Carol's door. He knew she probably didn't expect him to, and apparently whatever they might be doing at some point in the future would be as purely physical as you could get without being by yourself, but he'd been raised with certain ingrained values, and one of those included holding the doors open for people he'd recently professed interest in sleeping with.

[ladyofmarvel]

Another small chuckle, and she reached over and gave his shoulder a light pat. "It's all right, Phil. I get what you meant." But the phrasing itself was certainly serendipitous, along with his obvious realization and attempted verbal backpedalling.

She'd been about to open the door herself, but she'd seen him coming around the back, letting him indulge in his chivalrous attempts. Besides, it wasn't often Carol was actually treated as a lady. It was... nice. Welcome. Getting out of the car, she might have passed by him closer than she needed to, her eyes keeping his as she stood and moved slightly away. "Thank you."