Recruitment Drive: Reaching an Accord

By Bissek

Prologue

Agent Gonzales, Commander of the SHIELD carrier Iliad and head of the SHIELD Council, waited in the conference room with Agents Oliver and Weaver, the other members of the council that were present on the ship. An agent he had sent on a long-term assignment had broken away from the group she was observing and had returned to check in. He was interested in seeing what would she had to report.

"Welcome back, Bobbi." He greeted her as his comrade in arms entered.

"It's good to be back, sir." She responded.

"Where is Mack?" Oliver inquired.

"He came into contact with something in the alien city that temporarily controlled his mind. Once he regained self-control, he was placed into quarantine until it can be determined whether or not whatever hit him is completely gone from his system. Hopefully he'll be out in a day or two."

"I hope so, too. Is there anything else to report about that mission?"

"The ostensible objective of the mission was accomplished. Virtually every HYDRA member operating in the vicinity of the alien city was captured or killed. Doctor Whitehall was confirmed as one of the casualties. I wouldn't be surprised if Coulson isn't already working out a plan to further disrupt their operations before HYDRA can appoint a successor to take over his branch of their operations.

"On the matter of the alien city, it was secured and is being rigged for demolition. It should be destroyed within the next few days. What I'm worried about is the fact that Coulson's hidden secondary objective was also achieved."

"And what do you think that objective was, Agent Morse?" Agent Weaver asked.

"Coulson was unable to prevent the Obelisk from being taken into the city and being activated. And Agent Skye was in the activation chamber when it went off. While the Obelisk didn't appear to do anything to her, I wouldn't be surprised if the effects simply aren't immediately obvious. She's also in quarantine at the moment, and I am looking forward to the results of her tests with great interest."

"Be sure to keep me informed if anything unusual is detected from those tests." Gonzales ordered, then changed the subject. "What happened to the Obelisk?"

"During the activation it apparently opened up. Coulson had Skye put the crystals that were inside into a secure lockbox and ordered that it be taken to someone he called the Warden for safekeeping. I don't know who the Warden is, but I suspect that he's someone that Coulson encountered during his recruitment drive last year."

"Ah, yes. The recruitment drive," Oliver said. "Have you been able to dig up anything on that?"

"I still haven't gotten the chance to get to know most of the people Coulson brought in with that - apart from House and Gideon, they're all assigned to posts other than the Playground. Coulson called in some of them for extra firepower before he took down the HYDRA operation in Puerto Rico, and they did a good job of it, too. Given how many people Whitehall had there, it could have gotten ugly if we'd gone in with fewer people. With one exception, they all went back to their normal duty stations the day after the operation was over."

"Who was the exception?" Gonzales inquired.

"That would be an Irishwoman named Glennane. Demolitions expert. She's currently overseeing the effort to destroy the alien facility. I think she's looking forward to the opportunity to blow up an entire city."

"Glennane? Would that be Fiona Glennane? I thought she was dead." Weaver said.

"No, she and her husband faked their deaths quite convincingly until Coulson somehow found them and hired them to run SHIELD operations in Europe for him. And they aren't the only people Coulson hired."

Bobbi produced a flash drive and plugged it into the conference room computer. Two clusters of images appeared on a monitor.

"The people that Coulson went after during the recruitment drive can be divided into two groups. The first group is actually a misnomer, as he didn't actually recruit any of them." One of the clusters was enlarged as Bobbi highlighted it. "These people are all current or former influential members of various intelligence agencies around the world, plus one underworld kingpin. From what I can tell, Coulson was trying to improve relations with their organizations, ostensibly to try correcting some of Fury's mistakes." The other people nodded, and Bobbi moved on to the second cluster.

"The second group are the people who I think of as the official purpose of the recruitment drive. Every single one of these people are highly talented experts in their chosen fields. Most of them are former intelligence, along with a pair of medical experts, two assassins, and a retired homicide detective, along with a few oddballs. I know of most of the people in this group by reputation, which tends to be formidable at the least. Those of the group with a reputation as being good in a fight definitely lived up to it in Puerto Rico."

"I recognize some of the names on that list," Oliver commented. "First-rate people. Do you have any idea where they would fall if we have to remove Coulson from command?"

"I have no idea," Bobbi answered, "I barely exchanged a few words with any of them before they had to leave. We should definitely send someone to sound out their ultimate loyalties, but it can't be me. There's far too great a risk that my cover would get blown if I start going out of my way to introduce myself to cells I'm not connected to, especially if Coulson decides that I'm needed for operations closer to home."

"What are the oddballs you mentioned?" Gonzales asked.

"One of them is a mystery novelist with connections to the homicide detective - he must have been brought in as a package deal. But the bulk of them are in one group that really worries me - a cell that is currently designated 'Special Investigations', though there's apparently an initiative to change the name to something more impressive - the suggested alternatives are the Wizardry, Alchemy and Necromancy Department, the Strategic Thaumaturgic Assault and Fortification Force, and a rather painfully convoluted name that someone must have spent days working on to get it to spell PENTAGRAM. It's headed by a dishonorably discharged member of the Chicago PD with a history of working with a consultant who used to openly advertise himself as a wizard in the phone book."

"Magic?" Weaver raised an eyebrow.

"Apparently. Special Investigations' bailiwick is to identify and deal with paranormal and occult threats. If the files are accurate, the list of people on their payroll or close associates include multiple werewolves, a Valkyrie, several undead Asgardian warriors, a paladin with a lightsaber, and the aforementioned wizard. The files also claim that there is an entire globe-spanning society of various non-human paranormal races that SHIELD had somehow missed for decades, with their own version of the Geneva Convention, which they call the Unseelie Accords. It was last revised in the early nineties, after an incident where somebody in that community caused Milwaukee to disappear for two hours."

"This is ridiculous!" Oliver exclaimed.

"Don't be so sure," Weaver objected. "Milwaukee did disappear for two hours back in the nineties. I was part of the team to investigate that. We never did figure out what happened."

"In any case, I highly doubt that Coulson would be hiring people who claimed to have supernatural abilities unless they could prove that they had them to his satisfaction - or at least something that could be interpreted as supernatural abilities." Gonzales added.

"Which means that regardless of their alleged origin, Coulson is collected gifted people, who have contacts that will allow him to easily find more, none of whom he has officially Indexed," Bobbi concluded. "This makes one specific recruit from the drive even more worrying."

A dark-haired woman appeared on the monitor.

"According to the files, this woman's name is Samantha Groves. The files also state that she is known in the hacker community as Root, in the psychiatric community as Dr Caroline Turing, in the law enforcement community as Agent Augusta King of the FBI, and the criminal community as 'The Gardener.' And that's far from a complete list. The woman's a chameleon - she assumes a role, plays it perfectly until she gets what she wants, and then moves on. She's definitely a player, and I have no idea for who. She was the absolute first person brought in during the recruitment drive, and given a few details that aren't in her file, it's entirely possible that the drive wasn't started by her being recruited into SHIELD, it was started by her recruiting SHIELD."

A second, identical woman appeared on the monitor next to the first.

"The woman on the left is Agent Groves. The woman on the right is Audrey Nathan, cellist for the Portland Philharmonic Orchestra. Ms Nathan and then-Agent Coulson were lovers up until his death at the Battle of New York and his resurrection via GH-325, at which point he was obliged to avoid her to maintain the pretense that he was still dead. These two woman are rather obviously the same person, but this isn't mentioned in the files. And Samantha Groves was recruited while Coulson was on leave in Portland, Oregon."

The other three people in the room looked at each other in alarm.

"Coulson may have been compromised by an unknown third party," Oliver said.

"And now he's being used to locate an entire network of Gifted individuals that SHIELD knew nothing about." Gonzales added.

"Perhaps this has something to do with the Theta Protocol," Weaver suggested. "Thank you for this, Agent Morse. We're going to need to analyze this data more thoroughly. If it means what you fear, we're going to have to step up our plans."

Several frenetic weeks later, two men sat at a bar in Tahiti.

"What's next, boss?" Hunter asked, as Coulson folded up the napkin and put it away.

"Circle the wagons. Send the word out to our other cells. Get a booth."

Hunter's forehead wrinkled. "'Get a booth...' Is that... code or something for... oh!" Coulson had risen from his chair and was already making his way for one of the enclosed tables lining the wall. Picking up his own bottle, Hunter hurried after his new employer.

"Better to discuss matters of international espionage in a—comparatively—more private location." Coulson said, sliding into the booth. "Alright. Let's go over our assets." he raised an eyebrow at Hunter. "You have transportation, I take it?"

"Stole a mini-sub just to get here." Hunter gave a cocksure grin as he slid across from Coulson.

"So that's a start. And Gonzales and his people have at least one Quinjet." Coulson frowned. "Plus the Bus."

"And eight or nine other Quinjets I left back on the carrier." Hunter said.

"Right. Gonzales commanded the Illiad. It would have a full complement of fighters." Coulson frowned. "Well, fighting isn't the way to resolve this situation anyway."

Hunter raised an eyebrow. "Sir?"

"I don't intend to start off my tenure as Director with some sort of civil war." Coulson shook his head. "Gonzales is a good man, and... some of his concerns are legitimate. His methods..." Coulson shook his head. "Seriously, why didn't they just contact me?"

"So... if we're not fighting evil SHIELD, what are we doing?" Hunter asked.

"I broke out for one reason." Coulson settled back in the plush leather. "My people. Gonzales was creepily interested in all the outsiders we've brought on board; it's only a matter of time before he turns his attention on them."

Hunter looked dubious. "All those chaps who popped up during the mansion attack? I say let him try. Some of those blokes were extremely dangerous."

"That's part of what I'm worried about." Coulson took a sip from his drink. "Again, I want to avoid a war here. That's not going to be easy if any of the newcomers feel the need to shoot up SHIELD HQ on some sort of rescue—or if Gonzales's people feel it necessary to imprison a few 'for their own safety.'" Coulson shuddered. "Considering his team's approach to getting-to-know-you parties, I'd prefer to get out ahead of any meeting they have."

"And... what? Marshal an army?"

"Maybe a small one." Coulson rubbed his lip. "A squad. The best move for now, though, is for the rest to go dark. Avoid confrontation, total silence, pull out to whatever safehouses we have."

"Uh-huh." Hunter's voice was flat. "Forgive me for pointing this out, good director, but I'm at a loss as to how that helps us in ANY way."

"We avoid confrontation." Coulson shrugged. "No internal war. But Gonzales knows if he STARTS a war, I have an invisible army willing to back me up. And that the only way to get that army on his side is to work with me."

Hunter considered this. "That... does make sense, sir."

"I hope so." Coulson took another sip from his drink. "I sent the blackout orders out ten minutes ago."

A blink from Hunter. "Sir?"

"Well, I didn't know you were going to show up here." Coulson shrugged. "For all I knew, Gonzales might have had men on their way there already. But there are still two groups I couldn't reach. Our New York and Chicago cells."

"New York." Hunter searched about in his mind a bit. "Innit that the 'Northern Lights' section?"

"That's where the department is based, yes." Coulson nodded. He looked curiously worried. "Unfortunately, being unable to contact them is nothing new. They've been dark for nearly a year now, and they're... very good at hiding." He sighed. "I suppose there's no need to tell them to go dark."

"These people work for you?" Hunter wondered.

"They're sort of like consultants." Coulson gestured wearily. "They have their own problems, which they like to handle on their own." A shrug. "So far, they've done pretty well, and we still have access..." He stopped whatever he was going to say and glanced up at a security camera. "Well. I'm sure they'd let us know if they were ever in any serious trouble."

Hunter was about to comment that he felt like Coulson wasn't really talking to him, when he happened to see the light on the security camera blink several times—far faster than it should.

He blinked. "Sir, are you talking to..."

Coulson turned his attention back to him. "Hunter. Anyone in espionage should know not to ask questions they really don't want the answers to."

Hunter was still puzzled, but he decided to take his superior's advice and just drop it.

"The problem is Chicago." Coulson continued. "Our Special Investigations cell has never been good with technology. They have a network of their own that they use to stay in touch, but I don't know how to contact it from here."

Hunter frowned. "Who are they, sir?"

"People who don't cross over with your department very often." Coulson shrugged. "We're still feeling out what they're best suited for—strengths and weaknesses, etc." He took another drink and studied Hunter for a moment. "You've met at least one of them." He said. "Harry Dresden? Came and gave a talk on danger signs to look out for on 084's?"

"That chap in the long leather coat, with the staff?"

"Mm." Coulson nodded, taking another sip. "Another consultant. Calls himself a wizard. Specializes in magic."

Hunter blinked. "Sorry, magic? As in, pull-a-rabbit-out-of-the-hat, nothing-up-my-sleeve, abra-kadabra?"

"Sort of, except with more fireballs, elves, and werewolves." Coulson agreed. He set his bottle down with a thunk. "Gonzales was especially interested in them, and with his attitude toward powered people, I have a pretty good idea why."

Rising from the booth, he tapped Hunter on the shoulder. "Does your mini-sub have enough fuel to reach the mainland?"

"Think so, so long as we settle for the first port we can find."

"Then as soon as we finish our drinks, we need to head out for a place that's really magical."

A/N: WAND is the canon name for SHIELD's occult subdivision. STAFF is my own idea. Anyone who can come up with a halfway plausible name that turns into PENTAGRAM, please let me know.

It was established in the first Recruitment Drive chapter ever that Audrey Nathan is not one of Root's numerous aliases, but between their identical appearances, Root's talent at assuming a role, the fact that Root first met Coulson in the building where Audrey worked at a time when Audrey was also there, and Real SHIELD's tendency to interpret all incoming data so that it matches their own preconceptions, you can see why they'd think she was. Coulson at present has not connected the dots to realize that Gonzales doesn't know that they are two different people with the same face.

Demonreach is probably one of the most secure facilities in the galaxy, and if anyone breaches it, it will explode with sufficient force to obliterate North America. Anything capable of doing that and surviving is not going to get significantly more dangerous if it gets a hold of an ancient Kree gene-splicing tool, or anything else that SHIELD is likely to be able to successfully capture.

I wrote the first section of this story, and Afalstein performed a complete rewrite of what I originally had for the second.